The Chosen Fraggle
by Erin T. Aardvark
Summary: The Fraggles unearth a strange amulet and discover a story about the Chosen One, who must use it to defeat an evil sorceress
1. The Perfect Present

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: All "Fraggle Rock" characters belong to Jim Henson. Any other character belongs to me. This is also my first attempt at *trying* to write for Cantus, though he shows up in a later chapter. He is extremely difficult for me to write, so bear with me in that regard._

* * *

It was a typical day in Fraggle Rock. Red was diving in the pool, Mokey was painting, Boober was doing laundry, and Gobo was telling Wembley about an old map he found. Wembley, however, wasn't listening to a word Gobo said, like he usually did when Gobo began talking about an adventure. This time, he was watching a bunch of Fraggles playing Tail Tag. Or, more specifically, he was watching Lou play Tail Tag with a bunch of Fraggles.

"Wembley, are you even listening to me?" Gobo asked.

"Huh?" Wembley asked, turning toward Gobo. "Oh, sorry, Gobo. I guess my mind was on something else."

"Or some _one_ else," Gobo said, looking in the direction Wembley had been looking. "Thinking about Lou again, eh?"

"Yeah . . . . well, no, not really . . . . I mean . . . ." Wembley said. Then he sighed. "Yes, and no."

"Okay, what's the problem?"

"It's just that Lou's birthday is tomorrow, and I want to give her something really special. I just don't know what."

"Is _that_ what you're so deep in thought about? You don't have to give Lou anything fancy just to impress her, Wembley! She likes you a lot, and the whole Rock knows it, too!"

"Yeah, I know that, Gobo, but I don't want to give her something special just to impress her! I want to give her something special because . . . . well, just because I want to."

"How about a crystal from the Crystal Caverns? You know Red was pretty impressed when we brought one back for her."

"I gave one to Lou last year, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, how could I have forgotten? She gave you such a big kiss, you were practically floating on the ceiling for three days afterward. Hey, I've got an idea! Let's go to that place I was talking about a minute ago!"

"What place?"

"The Rainbow Caverns. I found one of Uncle Traveling Matt's old maps that leads right to it!"

"Has he ever been there before?"

"No, I don't think he has. We'll be the first Fraggles to map it out! Come on!"

"Okay, Gobo."

Immediately, Gobo and Wembley went to their cave to pack their supplies. Then, they were off in search of Rainbow Cavern. When they got there, they found it to be just a ordinary cave.

"Gee, Gobo, I wonder why they call it the Rainbow Caverns?" Wembley asked. "It's all dark, and gray . . . . and boring."

"I don't know," Gobo said. "But let's go in and maybe we'll find out, eh?"

Wembley nodded, and he and Gobo walked into the cave. There still wasn't much to look at, until the two Fraggles came to a staircase. At the bottom of it was a red door.

"What do you say we see what's behind the door?" Gobo asked.

"It's okay with me if it's okay with you," Wembley said, shrugging.

"Don't start that again, Wemb."

"Oh, sure, Gobo. Whatever you say."

Gobo sighed, grabbed the handle on the door, and pulled. A light came out and nearly blinded the two Fraggles. Once they got used to it, they saw that everything behind the door was red.

"Wow!" Wembley shouted, and he raced inside, looking at everything. "Look at this place, Gobo!"

"Yeah," Gobo said, making some notes on his uncle's map. "I've never seen so much red in my life!"

Wembley immediately began picking up some small, round, shiny rocks, and stuffing them into his pocket.

"What are you doing that for?" Gobo asked.

"If I can find enough of these rocks," Wembley said, "I can ask Mokey to help me make a necklace for Lou!"

"Well, don't fill your pockets too much," Gobo said. "There's another door up ahead."

Wembley looked, and found that Gobo was right, except this door was orange. It was the only thing in the room that wasn't red. They opened this door, and found a room that looked almost exactly like the previous room, except everything in it was orange, with one exception, and that was a door on the other side of the room, and it was yellow. At the end of the yellow room, there was a green door, a blue door at the end of the green room, a darker blue door at the end of the blue room, a purple door at the end of the darker blue room, and a pink door at the end of the purple room. Gobo made notes on his map while Wembley gathered up rocks.

"Well, looks like this pink room is a dead end," Gobo said. "No more doors. I guess now we found out why it's called Rainbow Caverns."

Wembley wasn't really listening. As he was gathering some pink rocks, one of his purple rocks fell out of his pocket, and bounced over to a corner of the room. He followed it, and saw some kind of string sticking out from a pile of rocks. He grabbed it, and began pulling on it, but it was stuck.

"Hey, Gobo!" he called. "Can you come over here and help me?"

"Sure," Gobo said, coming over. "What's going on?"

"This string's stuck under the rocks here," Wembley explained. "Help me get it out."

"Okay," Gobo said, grabbing another part of the string. "On the count of three, pull as hard as you can. Ready?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. One, two, three, _pull_!"

Gobo and Wembley pulled as hard as they could, and managed to yank the string out from underneath the rocks. Of course, the two Fraggles wound up knocked off their feet once they got the string loose, since they were pulling pretty hard. Then they noticed it wasn't a normal piece of string at all. It was attached to a round, light pink pendant. There was a circle in the center, surrounded by round, rainbow colored stones: pink, red, blue, purple, dark blue, green, yellow, and orange.

"Hey, look at that!" Gobo shouted. "No wonder it was so hard to pull that string out from under there!"

"Wow," Wembley said. "I've never seen anything like this before. I wonder what it is?"

Wembley touched the purple stone in the pendant. The stone glowed, and played a note. Startled, Wembley touched the yellow stone, and a different note came out. Then he touched the pink stone, and went all the way around the pendant, and the entire musical scale played.

"Hey, a musical necklace!" Gobo shouted. "That's pretty neat!"

"I'll say," Wembley said. "You know what? I think I've found the perfect present for Lou!"

"Great idea, Wembley! Of course, you know what this could mean."

"What?"

"We may have to tie you to a rock so you don't go floating away on us. If she gave you a kiss that made you float to the ceiling for giving her a crystal from the Crystal Caverns, imagine what kind of kiss you'll get after giving her a musical necklace!"

Both Fraggles laughed, and then started back toward Fraggle Rock. However, neither of them realized that they were being watched by a nightflyer lurking in the shadows. Nightflyers were large creatures, had the head, body, and beak of a raven, but it also had the ears and wings of a bat, the feet of a raptor, and glowing red eyes. They were also extremely ugly. He was a pet to a beautiful, raven-haired sorceress named Narcissa, who lived in a castle far away from the Gorgs' garden. However, unlike the Gorgs' garden, Narcissa's castle was dark, dank, dreary, and rather depressing. Not to mention ugly. This was because Narcissa wanted to be the most beautiful being in the universe, and she didn't want to be outshone by flowers, trees, animals, and especially not other Silly Creatures.

The nightflyer flew out of the Rainbow Caverns through a hole in the roof, and returned to Narcissa's castle, giving out a loud screech to let his mistress know he had returned.

"You're back, are you?" Narcissa asked. "Excellent. Now, give me the amulet."

The nightflyer squawked and flapped his wings a bit. Narcissa's eyebrows narrowed as he did this. She was not happy to hear this.

"You mean to tell me someone _else_ found it?!" she shouted. "You _useless_ flying fool! How could you have let it happen?! No one's been in the Rainbow Caverns for hundreds of years! Who has it now?!"

The nightflyer started squawking again. This time, Narcissa made a disgusted face, and began backing up.

"A _Fraggle_?!" she shouted, grimacing. " _Ugh_! It's bad enough you let someone take the amulet right from under your beak, but to tell me you let a dis _gust_ ing little Fraggle get his _filthy_ little paws on it?!"

The nightflyer began squawking again. Narcissa growled, and turned away, storming to her throne.

"I don't want your excuses!" she shouted. "I want that amulet! How do you expect me to take over the universe without it?! You'd better hope that filthy little Fraggle doesn't put it on! You _know_ the legend behind it! Whoever possesses the Rainbow Amulet also possesses it's power. Power enough to take control of the entire universe! I've _got_ to find it before it can get into the hands of the one destined to use it to defeat me. If I don't get that amulet before then, I'll clip your wings!"

The nightflyer squawked in fear, and flew out the window. Narcissa grunted, stood up, and walked over to a large mirror on the wall. After primping a bit, she waved her hand over it. The image in the mirror changed from her reflection to Gobo and Wembley walking toward Fraggle Rock, playing songs with the amulet.

"Good," she said. "It doesn't appear those simpletons know how the amulet works, except for making that _awful_ noise with it! And appears the little green one is in possession of it, and he doesn't look smart enough to even know what to do with it. But I can't take chances. He _must_ be the chosen one, if he was able to find it before my nightflyer."

Narcissa snapped her fingers. Her army of goblins came running into the room, though when one of them stopped, the others ran into him, and they all fell to the ground. They all wore suits of armor, so when they all fell, they made the most awful noise you can imagine. Narcissa groaned, and rolled her eyes.

"You called, oh mistress of the night?" the head goblin asked.

"Yes," Narcissa said. Then she turned to the mirror. "You see that little green Fraggle? I want you nimrods to bring him here."

"Yes, oh queen of darkness!" the head goblin shouted. "At once, oh queen of darkness! About _face_! Forward _march_!"

The goblins got to their feet, and ran out of the castle, off on their mission, clattering all the way. Narcissa sat down in her throne, rolled her eyes, and began massaging her right temple.

"It's _so_ hard to find good help these days," she groaned.


	2. Goblins in the Garden

The next morning, the Great Hall was abuzz with activity. Whenever any Fraggle had a birthday, it was an excuse to party all day. Red was leading several Fraggles, running around the Great Hall, yelling, screaming, and throwing streamers and confetti. Others were blowing into noisemakers.

"Wheeee!" Red shouted. "I _love_ birthday parties!"

"I hate birthday parties," Boober grumbled. "All the noise . . . . and they're such a pain to clean up after, too, what with all the confetti, and streamers . . . ."

Suddenly, Boober heard a loud pop. He screamed, and nearly hit the ceiling. Feenie had been blowing up balloons, and he accidentally blew too much into one of them.

"Not to mention exploding balloons," Boober said.

"Sorry, Boober," Feenie said.

"Come on, lighten up, Boober!" Gobo shouted, blowing into a noisemaker, which unrolled and tickled Boober's nose. "This is a party! You want Lou to have a nice birthday, dontcha?"

"Yeah, dontcha?" Wembley repeated.

"Yeah, well . . . ." Boober said. Then he sighed. "Guess I'd better go get started on the birthday cake, then."

With that, Boober trudged toward the kitchen. Gobo just shrugged, and continued blowing into his noisemaker.

"Hey, Wembley!" Red called out. "Here comes Lou! I can't wait to see the great present you're gonna give her!"

"Me neither," Mokey said. "The way you and Gobo talked about it, it must be something wonderful!"

"Well, I don't know about that," Wembley said. "But it's pretty neat."

"Come on, everybody," Gobo said. "Let's stop talking about it, and hide before she gets here!"

The other Fraggles nodded, and ducked behind a couple of rocks. Lou walked into the Great Hall, and found it empty, with the exception of party decorations all over the place.

"Hmmm," she said, looking around. "Looks like everybody's got the Great Hall decorated. Now the question is where's everyone hiding?"

"SURPRISE!" all the Fraggles yelled at once, jumping out of their hiding places.

"Happy birthday, Lou!" Red shouted, throwing handfuls of confetti out of her sweater pockets into the air. "Whoo hoooooo!"

Red then swung down on streamer, flipped into the air, landed in front of Lou, and began singing.

 _Oh, what a dream it is!_

 _Oh, how supreme it is!_

 _Oh..._

 _Yelling and getting and party hats too._

 _Cake on your plate and a candy to chew._

 _Friends all around like a day at the zoo._

 _Happy birthday to you_

 _Happy birthday to you_

 _Some people say that a birthday's a bore._

 _But some people don't know what birthdays are for._

 _Birthdays are mirthdays and birthdays are more._

 _Happy birthday to you_

 _Happy birthday to you_

 _Oh, what a dream it is!_

 _Oh, how supreme it is!_

 _Oh, it's the keenest of all!_

 _Laughing and singing and making a game,_

 _Each time we do it, it's always the same,_

 _Everyone's proud and they call you by name._

 _Happy birthday to you_

 _Happy birthday to you_

 _Happy birthday to you_

"Okay, enough sentiment," Red said, once she finished singing. "LET'S PARTY! Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoooo!"

"Red sure loves to party, doesn't she?" Lou asked, as she watched Red run around the Great Hall, continuing to toss confetti.

"Yeah, even when it isn't her birthday!" Gobo shouted with a laugh. "She doesn't need an excuse, she just parties when she feels like it."

"I've noticed," Lou said. "But thanks for the surprise, everybody."

"Wembley has a present for you, Lou," Mokey said.

"Really?" Lou asked.

"Yeah," Wembley said, handing Lou a wrapped package. "Gobo and I found it yesterday when we were exploring the Rainbow Caverns."

Lou unwrapped the package, and held up the necklace. Several Fraggles began to "ooh" and "ahh" at it.

"Wow, Wembley!" Lou shouted. "It's so pretty!"

"Look what else it does!" Wembley shouted, taking the necklace back for a minute. "It plays music!"

"Music?" Red asked, then she laughed. "Get outta here, Wembley!"

"No, really, listen!" Wembley shouted. He began touching the colored stones on the necklace, and played the familiar "Happy Birthday" song. Everyone was impressed.

"Wow, that was incredible!" Red shouted.

"Thanks, Wembley," Lou said, taking the necklace back and putting it around her neck. "I love it! This is one of the neatest presents I've ever received!"

Lou leaned over and gave Wembley a huge kiss. Wembley became rigid, steam whistled out of his ears, and began to see sky rockets going off. When Lou let go, he heaved a gigantic sigh, and fell over backwards. Gobo caught him before he could hit the ground. He also noticed Wembley's pupils became red and heart-shaped, and they were pulsating. He also had a big, dopey, love-sick grin on his face.

"You okay, Wembley?" Gobo asked.

Wembley's answer was just a string of incoherent babbling. The other Fraggles began laughing.

"Yeah, he's okay, all right!" Gobo shouted, laughing himself.

"At least he didn't go floating to the ceiling like he did last year!" Red shouted.

Wembley came out of his catatonic state after a few minutes, and joined the other Fraggles in partying. Lou was providing the music with her new necklace. While everyone was partying, Boober came out of the kitchen, and tapped Mokey on the shoulder.

"Oh, hi, Boober," Mokey said.

"Mokey, I need another radish," Boober said. "I can't finish Lou's birthday cake without one."

"Oh, sure," Mokey said. "I'll get an extra one, too. Come on, Wembley. I might need some help with this."

"Sure, Mokey," Wembley, ever the agreeable Fraggle, said.

The two Fraggles went to the Gorgs' garden to get the radishes. The Gorgs didn't seem to be around the garden, but that didn't mean they weren't around, period. But they had bigger things to worry about than the Gorgs. At that moment, Narcissa's goblin army had reached the Gorgs' garden, after traveling all night.

"Are you sure we're at the right spot?" one of them asked.

"There's a big rock over there," the leader said, pointing to the entrance to Fraggle Rock.

"You sure it's Fraggle Rock, boss?" another asked.

"Of course I'm sure!" the leader shouted. "Look, there are a couple of Fraggles now! And we're in luck! The one the mistress wants is one of them!"

The goblins ducked out of sight. They didn't want to be seen.

"We'd better make this quick, Wembley," Mokey said, as she began to pull a radish out of the ground. "The Gorgs may not be around now, but that doesn't mean they won't show up."

"Right, Mokey," Wembley said. "And we can get back to the party faster."

Mokey nodded, and yanked the radish out as hard as she could. Unfortunately, she yanked a little too hard, and stumbled backward, letting go of the radish. It bounced out of the garden, and started to roll away from the Gorgs' castle.

"Don't worry, Mokey!" Wembley shouted, as he started to chase after the radish. "I'll go get it!"

"Okay," Mokey said. "I'll go get another one."

Wembley managed to catch up with the radish just outside the garden. He picked it up, and was about to head back to Mokey, when he was suddenly grabbed from behind, a hand clamped over his mouth, and he was pulled backwards into the bushes.

"Excellent work!" the leader of the goblins shouted. "Now let's take him back to the castle!"

The goblins began to march off. Wembley struggled, but the goblin had a strong grip. He at least managed to pull the goblin's hand away from his mouth.

"MOKEY!" he screamed at the top of his voice. "MOKEY, HELP!"

"Quiet, you little runt!" the goblin shouted, covering Wembley's mouth with his hand once more. Thankfully, Mokey had heard Wembley yell.

"What is it, Wembley?" she asked, coming to the edge of the garden. "What's the matter?"

When Mokey saw the army of goblins, she gasped. Then she started running after them.

"Hey, you . . . . you . . . . whatever you are!" she shouted. "Stop right there!"

"Uh oh," one of the goblins said. "We've got company."

"Let's get outta here!" the leader shouted, and he and the other goblins began running as fast as they could, but Mokey was hot on their heels.

"Stop, you beasts!" she shouted. "Stop! Come back here! You let Wembley go, you monsters!"

"She's right behind us, boss!" one of the goblins shouted.

"Don't worry," the leader said. "This is a Gorgs' garden. And if I know Gorgs, there should be a Fraggle trap around here somewhere."

The leader looked around, and saw that there definitely was a Fraggle trap that Junior Gorg had set up nearby. He smiled sneakily, and turned to his comrade.

"You and the men keep going with the runt," he said. "I'll take care of the other one."

"Yes, sir!" the goblin shouted, saluting. Of course, when he saluted, he took his hand away from Wembley's mouth.

"Mokey!" he yelled. "Mokey, be careful! They're gonna set off one of . . . ."

"I told you to shut up, you little twerp!" the goblin shouted, immediately clamping his hand over Wembley's mouth once more.

Mokey was closing in fast, however she was unaware that the leader of the goblins was waiting for her. As soon as she got to a certain spot, he pulled a string, which sent a cage falling right on top of her.

"What in the Rock?" she asked. Then she gasped when she realized what happened. "Oh, no! A Fraggle trap!"

"You're so right," the goblin leader said, laughing. "Gotta love those Gorgs!"

Several of the goblins laughed, and began taunting Mokey. Wembley had to help her out of that cage, but he wasn't in a position to do so right at the moment. Then he got an idea. He bit the goblin in the hand as hard as he could.

"Yeouch!" the goblin shouted, ultimately, letting go of the green Fraggle.

"Hang on, Mokey!" Wembley called, running toward the cage. "I'll help you out of there!"

"Oh no you don't!" another goblin shouted. He grabbed Wembley by the arms, and lifted him off the ground. Wembley squirmed, and began kicking his legs, trying to get away. He wound up giving the goblin a good kick in the face.

"Ouch!" the goblin shouted, dropping Wembley. The green Fraggle ran off immediately.

"Get him!" another goblin yelled.

"Run, Wembley, run!" Mokey shouted.

"Right, Mokey!" Wembley shouted.

Wembley ran as fast as he could toward Fraggle Rock, but his path was blocked by one of the goblins, and another goblin was right behind him. He managed to side step, and the two goblins collided head on with each other.

 _WHAM!_

"You incompetent fools!" the leader yelled. "Can't you even catch _one_ little Fraggle?!"

"You leave Wembley alone!" Mokey shouted, shaking the bars of the cage, trying to get out.

The goblin ignored her, and took a piece of rope off his belt, tied a loop in it, and ran after Wembley. The leader twirled the rope over his head, and threw it. Wembley saw it coming, and ducked, managing to avoid it.

"You missed me, you missed me!" he sang.

Suddenly, Wembley found himself ensnared by another lasso, coming from the opposite direction, followed by a second, and a third. He hadn't been aware of it, but several of the goblins had followed their leader's lead.

"Gotcha now," the leader said, with a laugh. "Tie him up, boys!"

The goblins saluted, and tied Wembley up so tight, he was unable to get loose, no matter how hard he struggled. One of the goblins even took a piece of rope and tied it around Wembley's muzzle so he couldn't call for help. The leader then grabbed Wembley by the shirt collar and lifted him off the ground.

"You've got a lot of spirit, squirt," he said. "Maybe this'll teach you to behave yourself!"

The leader smacked Wembley across the face as hard as he could, dazing him. Mokey didn't like that one bit.

"Ooooohhh!" she growled, and she began shaking the bars of the cage harder. "I don't know who you are, or what you're up to, but you'll never get away with it!"

"I'm afraid we already have, Pinky," the goblin leader said, slinging Wembley over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "See you around, sister!"

"You monsters!" Mokey yelled, as the goblins disappeared from view. "You horrible monsters! You still won't get away with what you're up to! Whatever it is! And furthermore, I'm not even pink!"

Mokey shook the bars of the cage as hard as she could, but she knew it was no use. She'd never be able to get out of that cage by herself. And she knew if she started calling for help, it would attract Junior Gorg's attention before her cries could be heard by Gobo and the others. She wouldn't be able to help Wembley if she were thumped.

"I've got to find a way out of here somehow," she said. "Poor little Wembley! I hope those horrible monsters don't hurt him! What could they want with him, anyway?"

* * *

 _AUTHOR'S NOTE: the song in this chapter is from the "Fraggle Rock" episode, "Mirror, Mirror," with a slight lyrical change._


	3. The Chosen One

No Fraggle had been beyond the Gorgs' garden before, and no Fraggle knew what lay there. Not even Gobo's Uncle Traveling Matt. It was a frightening thought. When Wembley realized these goblins were taking him further down this path, and further away from Fraggle Rock, he began shaking nervously.

"Now, now, little one," the goblin leader said, patronizingly. "Calm down. There's nothing to be afraid of."

 _That's easy for him to say,_ Wembley thought. _After all, he's not the one that's being kidnapped!_

Wembley heaved a sigh. He was wondering how his friends were going to find him. Gobo was a great explorer, but even he wouldn't be able to track these goblins down if they took him too far away from the Rock. Then he realized something. He still had the rocks from the Rainbow Caverns in his pocket. He began squirming a bit, desperately trying to get his hand to reach his pocket. He was just thankful that the goblins had only restrained his arms, and not his hands. After some maneuvering, he managed to reach into his pocket and grab a handful of the rainbow colored rocks.

"It's no use struggling, kid," one of the goblins said. "Nobody can break through goblin knots! When we tie 'em up, they stay tied up!

"Now be a good little Fraggle, and keep still," the leader said. "We've got a long way to go."

Wembley gulped upon hearing that. He maneuvered his hand again, and dropped one of the colored rocks to the ground. None of the goblins noticed. Wembley breathed a sigh of relief. He waited a few minutes before he dropped another one. He didn't have very many rocks, and he didn't want to run out of them too soon.

Meanwhile, back in Fraggle Rock, the Fraggles were still partying, but Boober was pacing, frustratedly.

"What is taking Mokey so long with that radish?" he asked. "I can't make a radish birthday cake without the radish!"

"Oh, you know Mokey," Red said, shrugging. "She probably found a spot in the garden and just _had_ to stop and sit there and think of poetry."

"Yeah, but Wembley would've been able to snap her out of it," Gobo said. "And they would have been back by now, anyway."

"You don't think they're in trouble, do you?" Lou asked.

"We'd better go up there and find out," Gobo said.

"Good," Boober said. "And while you're doing that, I'll go check my cake batter again."

"Come on!" Red shouted, grabbing Boober by the scarf and practically yanking him down the tunnel.

Gobo, Red, and Lou peered out of the tunnel and into the Gorgs' garden. Boober stayed inside, waiting.

"Is it safe to go out there?" he asked.

"Yeah," Gobo said. "Looks like it's okay. I don't see any Gorgs."

"I don't see Mokey or Wembley, either," Red said.

"I hope the Gorgs didn't catch them," Lou said.

"Oh no!" Boober shouted. "Look over there! It's a Fraggle Trap!"

Gobo, Red, and Lou looked, and saw the cage. Immediately, they ran over to it, and found Mokey inside of it.

"Mokey, are you all right?" Red asked.

"Red!" Mokey shouted. "Gobo, Boober, Lou! Oh, thank goodness you're here! Hurry, get me out of here before Junior Gorg shows up!"

"Where's Wembley?" Gobo asked, as he and the others bent down to grab the bottom of the cage.

"Oh, Gobo, it was horrible!" Mokey shouted. "This army of . . . . of . . . . well, I don't know exactly what they were, but there was an army of them. They were practically monsters! Horrible, ugly, beastly looking monsters! They were even uglier than the Gorgs! Uglier than a flying batworm! Uglier than a Poison Cackler! Ooooh, they were so ugly!"

"Yeah, we get it," Red said. "They were ugly. Get to the point of this story, Mokey."

"Oh, sorry," Mokey said, climbing out of the cage. "Anyway, this army of . . . . well . . . . ugly beings, I guess you could call them, because I really don't have the slightest idea what they were, except for _really_ ugly . . . . ugh! I can't get over how ugly they were!"

"Mo _key_!" Gobo, Red, Boober, and Lou shouted in unison. "Get on with it!"

"Just tell us what happened, Mokey," Gobo said. "And stop beating around the bush, for crying out loud!"

"Okay, okay," Mokey said. She then took a deep breath. "This army of ugly beasts kidnapped Wembley!"

Lou froze, and dropped the part of the cage she was holding up. It landed on Boober's foot.

 _THUNK!_

"YEEEOOOWWWW!" Boober screamed. Then he grabbed his sore foot and began hopping up and down on his other foot.

"Oooch! Eeech! Ouch! Ooch! Ow! Eee! Aaahhh!" he shouted. "Maybe you could've beaten around the bush a little more, Mokey."

"This is horrible!" Lou shouted, once she got her wits back.

"I'll say!" Boober shouted. "You probably accidentally broke every bone in my foot when you dropped that cage on it, Lou!"

"She was talking about Wembley, Boober!" Red shouted.

"Which way did they go?" Gobo asked.

"Down that way," Mokey said, pointing.

Immediately, Gobo, Red, and Lou ran off in the direction Mokey had indicated, but Gobo stopped when he got to the edge of the garden. Red and Lou crashed directly into him, and all three of them fell to the ground.

"What'd you stop like that for?" Red asked. "We can't help Wembley just standing here, you know!"

"I know, I know," Gobo said. "But . . . . well, I've never been beyond the Gorgs' garden before! I don't even think Uncle Traveling Matt has, either!"

"I don't think any Fraggle has," Lou said. "But we can't let that stop us!"

Lou was about to head off, but Gobo grabbed her by the arm.

"Hold it, Lou!" he shouted. "We can't go into uncharted territory! We don't know what's out there!"

"Gobo's right!" Boober shouted. "It's too dangerous to go out there! There could be monsters, or giants, or Fraggle-eating plants, or worse yet . . . . soap scum!"

"Oh Boober!" Red groaned.

"I agree with Boober," Gobo said.

"You do?" Red asked. "You feeling okay, Gobo? I mean, I know this news came as a bit of a shock to you, but let's not get crazy here. I mean, how can you _poss_ ibly be afraid of soap scum?!"

"I don't agree with him about soap scum," Gobo said. "I agree with him about it being too dangerous to go out there. At least for right now, anyway. We need to figure out a plan, and pack some supplies, just in case."

Mokey, Red, and Lou agreed, and they ran back to Fraggle Rock to plan their next move.

"Hey, they're back!" Large Marvin called out. "When is it gonna be time for cake, Boober?"

"There's no time for cake, Large Marvin," Boober said.

"But I've been waiting all _day_ to have a piece of Lou's birthday cake!" Large Marvin shouted. "I just _can't_ forget about it!"

"We've got more important things to worry about right now," Gobo said.

"But I _really_ want cake!" Large Marvin whined. "Besides, what's a birthday party without birthday cake, anyway?"

"Large Marvin, would you forget about the birthday cake, already?" Red asked, starting to lose her patience. "And forget about the party, too!"

Upon hearing that, every single Fraggle in the Rock gasped loudly.

"Forget about the _party_?!" Feenie shouted. "Did I just hear Red Fraggle say forget about a party?!"

Every Fraggle began talking at once. No one could believe the words that had just come out of Red's mouth. They all began to talk at once. Something must have been up, and it must have been pretty bad if Red said to forget about a party.

"This _must_ be serious," Morris said. "Why else would Red tell us to forget about a party?"

"What's going on, Gobo?" Tosh asked.

"I don't know exactly," Gobo said. "But Mokey tells us Wembley was kidnapped by an army of . . . . well, really ugly things."

"Goblins," a familiar voice in the distance said. "As ugly on the inside as they are on the outside."

All the Fraggles turned toward the source of the voice, and found Cantus the Minstrel standing there.

"The goblins are the minions of the sorceress, Narcissa," he continued. "She is a Silly Creature, and will stop at nothing to obtain the Rainbow Amulet for her own evil purposes."

"Cantus, what are you doing here?" Gobo asked.

"I am here because the song of the Rainbow Amulet has called," Cantus said. "It has chosen."

"The what of the who?" Red asked. "What do you mean it has chosen? What's he talking about?"

"Who knows?" Boober asked, shrugging. "I never know what Cantus is talking about."

"The Rainbow Amulet," Cantus said. "Hidden away from evil for many thousands of years. It has awakened, and it has chosen it's wielder."

"You mean this Rainbow Amulet is a sentient amulet?" Mokey asked. "Oh, my! How exciting!"

"Something does not have to be sentient to choose the one who will bear it," Cantus said.

"I've heard of it," the Storyteller said. "There's a great story behind it. A long, long time ago, there was a princess who ruled a beautiful land with the help of the Rainbow Amulet. Then one day, an evil sorceress descended on the land, and turned everything dark, dank, dreary, and downright ugly. The sorceress wanted the Rainbow Amulet to enhance her powers, and take over the universe, but the princess hid it from her. After the princess hid the amulet, she disappeared. It's been said that there is only one person destined to find the amulet and restore the land to it's former glory and defeat the evil presence surrounding it."

"But what exactly _is_ the Rainbow Amulet?" Gobo asked.

Cantus put his pipe to his lips, and played a tune on it. The necklace around Lou's neck began to shake. The clasp opened, and flew off her neck, and over to the minstrel. Once it was in Cantus's hand, he stopped playing.

"This is the Rainbow Amulet," he said. "A powerful holder of great magic. In the hands of good, it produces good. In the hands of evil, it produces evil. The amulet chooses the one who will use it's power, and the Chosen One will always be good, but there will also be an evil one who will try to get the amulet's power for themselves."

"But why tell us all this?" Red asked. "Unless . . . ."

Red clapped her hands over her mouth and gasped. Then she began jumping up and down excitedly.

"One of _us_ is the Chosen One, right?" she asked.

"Correct," Cantus said. "A Fraggle is the Chosen One, the one destined to defeat Narcissa and her plans for universal domination."

"And it's obvious who the Chosen One is," Gobo said, puffing up his chest. "It has to be me, of course! After all, I'm the bravest Fraggle in the Rock! I face danger every day of my life, going into Outer Space to face the Hairy Monster that lives there in order to retrieve postcards sent from my Uncle Matt! I was _born_ for greatness!"

"You're also very modest," Red muttered, sarcastically.

"I'm afraid not, Gobo," Cantus said. "The amulet has already chosen, and it isn't you."

"Oh no!" Boober gasped. "When you said an evil one will always want the amulet's power . . . ."

"And that those goblins work for an evil Silly Creature who wants to get her hands on this amulet . . . ." Mokey said, beginning to get nervous.

"Oh my gosh!" Gobo shouted. "The Chosen One _must_ be Wembley! After all, he was the one who found the amulet!"

"Of _course_!" Red shouted. "Why else would those goblins kidnap him?"

"No," Cantus said. "Wembley is not the Chosen One, either. He may have _found_ the amulet, but the amulet did not _choose_ him."

"Then why did those goblins kidnap him?" Mokey asked.

"And who _is_ the Chosen One?" Red asked, sounding impatient.

Cantus walked over to Lou, and put the amulet back around her neck.

"I give you the Chosen One," he said. "Louise Fraggle."

"Lou?!" Red shouted.

" _Her_?!" Gobo shouted.

" _Me_?!" Lou practically squeaked. "But . . . . but . . . . but why _me_?!"

"Yeah, why her?!" Gobo shouted. "Why Lou instead of me?! I'm the explorer, not Lou! I'm the brave one! Lou doesn't even _do_ much of anything around here! All I've ever seen her do is play Rock Hockey and be a member of the Poobahs! And even then, all she ever does for them is say halt! Who goes there?! All she ever does is just sit around in the background and she doesn't do anything else!"

"Jealous much?" Red asked. "Besides, it can't be you all the time, Gobo."

"The amulet has chosen," Cantus said. "And it has chosen Louise Fraggle. That is all there is to it. It is her destiny."

"I still don't get it," Red said. "If it chose Lou, how come Wembley found it?"

"When the amulet chooses the one to wield it, it does not matter who finds it," Cantus said. "It will find the Chosen One eventually."

"That makes sense," Mokey said. "I think."

"But . . . . but I don't even know how this works!" Lou shouted. "All I thought it did was play music!"

"You must unlock the magic that hides within the stones," Cantus explained. "Each colored stone of the Rainbow Amulet features a different power. Red is for fire, blue is for air, purple is for lightning, indigo is for water, green is for plants, yellow is for light, and orange is for earth."

"You forgot pink," Gobo pointed out.

"I did not forget pink," Cantus said. "I am not at liberty to say what power the pink stone holds. That, you must discover on your own, Louise."

"Okay," Lou said. "But, uhhhh, how do I unlock the magic?"

"You must find out how to do that on your own as well," Cantus said.

"There's always a catch, isn't there?" Lou asked, with a groan.

"What about the princess?" Mokey asked.

"According to the story," the Storyteller said, "the princess will return when all the powers of the amulet have been unlocked by the Chosen One."

"You do not need to worry about that for now," Cantus said. "When the time is, all will be revealed."

"There's just something else I don't understand," Gobo said. "If Lou is the Chosen One, then why did this Narcissa lady kidnap Wembley?"

"She may not have known Wembley was not the Chosen One," Cantus said. "She could have used her magic to see where the amulet was, and saw that Wembley had it, and assumed he was the Chosen One."

"Uh oh," Lou said, nervously. "I just had a thought. What's going to happen when Narcissa discovers Wembley doesn't have the amulet?"

"We've got to find him and fast!" Gobo shouted. "Do you know where Narcissa lives, Cantus?"

"All I know is that she lives beyond the Gorgs' garden," Cantus said, "and that the journey is long."

"And those goblins already have a good head start, too," Red said.

"We'd better get started, then," Gobo said.

"Just be careful, my young friends," Cantus said. "Compared to Narcissa, dealing with Junior Gorg will seem like dealing with a rumble bug."

"We'll keep that in mind," Gobo said. "Thanks, Cantus!"

And with that, Gobo, Red, Mokey, and Lou ran off to gather some supplies.

"While you're gathering supplies, I'll just go hide under a rock," Boober said. "It's safer."

"Come on!" Red shouted, grabbing Boober's scarf, and yanking him down a tunnel.

"Yeah, Boober, Wembley needs us!" Mokey shouted. Gobo then picked up a drum and began banging on it with a couple of sticks.

"Come on, everybody, we've got work to do!" he shouted.

 _Down the path near the garden,_

 _By the house at the well,_

 _There's a poor lonely Fraggle,_

 _And he's locked in a cell._

 _Let your blood run cold._

 _Let your hearts grow bold._

 _For it's time to rescue Wembley now._

"Follow me!" Gobo shouted. Immediately, Red, Mokey, Lou, and, reluctantly, Boober began to gather up their supplies. Lou started playing a few notes on the amulet.

 _Gobo: From the hills, from the valleys,_

 _From the high cliffs above,_

 _We will march to the rescue,_

 _Of the one that we love._

 _All: For our brave hearts choose,_

 _When they hear the news,_

 _And it's time to heed the drum beat now._

 _Gobo: Follow me!_

 _Other Fraggles: From the hills they will follow,_

 _From the dales they will come,_

 _From the high cliffs above us,_

 _They will march to the drum._

 _For their brave hearts choose,_

 _When they hear the news,_

 _And it's time to heed the drum beat now._

 _All: For their brave hearts choose_

 _When they hear the news,_

 _And it's time to heed the drum beat now._

 _Gobo: Follow me!_

The five Fraggles marched down the tunnel to the Gorgs' garden. The other Fraggles followed behind them, calling out their goodbyes and well wishes.

"Good luck, you guys!" Large Marvin called out, waving.

"Yeah! You'll need it!" Feenie shouted. Tosh nudged him in the ribs.

"Thanks, everybody!" Gobo shouted.

"We're all gonna die," Boober moaned.

* * *

 _AUTHOR'S NOTE: The song in this chapter is from the "Fraggle Rock" episode "Wembley and the Gorgs," again with a small change in the lyrics. Also forgive me if Cantus doesn't seem very much in character. I had a feeling it was going to be hard for me to write for him, and guess what? I was right._


	4. The Bananacudas

Once the Fraggles reached the Gorgs' garden, they walked around to the front of the castle, since that was where Mokey saw the goblins take Wembley. All five of them were nervous about it. They stopped for a moment, and looked down the trail.

"This is it," Gobo said. "We're going where no Fraggle has gone before."

"Yeah," Red said, with a nervous laugh. "Exciting, isn't it?"

The group began to walk on. They had only gone three steps, when Boober immediately turned around, and started running back.

"I think I left my kettle on the burner!" he shouted. "I'd better go back and make sure! You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up to you later!"

"Come back here!" Red shouted, grabbing Boober's tail. "You're coming on this trip, whether you like it or not!"

"I don't understand why I have to go," Boober grumbled. "Face unknown dangers, and creepy monsters, and ugly goblins, and quite possibly unknown germs. I just want to know why I have to go and face death and destruction when Lou's the Chosen One!"

"You're the only Fraggle who knows about medical stuff," Mokey said. "Not to mention poisonous plants and stuff like that. The rest of us don't. What would happen if we ran into a plant and we didn't know if it was poisonous or not?"

"All right, all right," Boober said. "But let me tell you guys something, I'd much rather be doing laundry!"

"I'd much rather be doing anything else but this," Lou admitted. "I don't know how to be a Chosen One! What do I have to do?"

"Find out how that amulet works," Gobo said. "And defeat this Narcissa person."

"Yeah, but why me?" Lou asked.

"Why not you?" Mokey asked. "After all, the world works in mysterious ways."

Lou couldn't argue with that one, but she still didn't understand why she was the Chosen One. She thought Gobo would be a better choice. She wasn't even sure if she could even figure out how the amulet worked. But she decided not to worry about that. She felt she had to focus on finding Wembley first, and she knew that wasn't going to be easy.

By this time, Wembley had finally run out of rocks. He groaned when he realized it, but even if he had more of them, it wouldn't have done him any good. The goblins had stopped at the edge of a river, and there was no place to leave a rock trail for the others. The head goblin took a horn off his belt and blew into it, creating quite a loud honk. Wembley wondered if they'd be able to hear it at Fraggle Rock. Moments later, a ship came sailing by, being steered by more goblins. It stopped at the river bank, and a gang plank lowered, allowing the army to board. Once on board, the leader dropped Wembley onto the deck. Before the green Fraggle had a chance to get his wits back, he was seized by some of the other goblins, and tied to the ship's mast.

"Why you want us to do this, boss?" one of the goblins asked.

"Just a precaution," the leader explained.

"Yeah, but I doubt he'd try to escape," another goblin said. "What with all the bananacudas around here."

Wembley gave the goblins a strange look. He had never heard of a bananacuda.

"I know what you're thinking," the leader said, turning to Wembley. "Never seen a bananacuda before, have you? Well, I'll do better than tell you what one is. I'll show you one."

The goblin leader snapped his fingers, and one of his men stood at port bow of the ship, holding a piece of raw meat over the side. Two seconds later, an enormous fish jumped out of the water. It was seven feet long, and it's teeth were at least six inches. It was a dark yellow and dark brown, and splotchy, like an overripe banana peel. The goblin practically threw the meat to the fish, and drew back quickly, to avoid losing his hand. Wembley gasped, and began shaking, and whimpering nervously.

"Impressive, isn't it?" the head goblin asked. "I don't think you're going to be going anywhere soon, little one. Those bananacudas would tear you to shreds. My advice to you is just sit back, and relax. It won't be much longer now."

Wembley heaved a sigh. It was about all he could do. He looked over at the water. It seemed pretty calm, with the exception of a dragonfly hovering over the water. A split second later, a bananacuda shot out of the water and snapped up the dragonfly so fast, if you blinked you missed it. Wembley began shaking and whimpering again, and the goblins began laughing at him.

"Awwwww," one said, in a patronizing tone. "Is da widdle bitty Fwaggle afwaid of da big bad bananacuda?"

"Maybe he'd like a closer look at one," another goblin said.

The other goblins began laughing harder as the first one untied Wembley from the mast, and held him up over the side of the boat. Wembley struggled and squirmed, but the goblins just laughed at him. And moving around was the worst possible thing Wembley could do. Bananacudas were attracted to anything it saw moving on the water's surface. Seconds later, it came flying out of the water. Wembley let out a scream (though it was muffled, since his muzzle was still tied shut), and was yanked backwards back into the boat just before the bananacuda could get him. He was so scared, he was practically in tears at this point. The goblins began laughing hysterically. They were about to do it again, until their leader hit one of them in the head as hard as he could.

"What do you idiots think you're doing?!" he shouted.

"We were just having a little fun, boss!" the goblin holding Wembley shouted.

"Well, knock it off!" the leader shouted, grabbing the green Fraggle. "The mistress won't be happy with us if he's fish food before we bring him to her! And stop scaring him!"

"But you've already scared him," another goblin pointed out.

"Only to make him behave!" the leader shouted. "I don't want to deal with a squirming, struggling, screaming captive! You guys practically traumatized him with that stunt!"

The leader glared at his troops, and tied Wembley to the mast once more.

"There, there, little one," he said. "Just calm down now. There's nothing to be afraid of. Nobody is going to hurt you."

Wembley wasn't sure if the goblin leader was being sincere or condescending. All he knew was that he was scared out of his gourd at this point. Though he was relieved to know that he wasn't intended to be bananacuda bait. At least not yet, anyway.

"Remember, the mistress wants him in one piece!" the leader shouted at the other goblins. "And you _know_ how the mistress gets if her orders aren't obeyed! You're likely to be in the belly of a bananacuda if you're not careful!"

The leader stormed off, and the other goblins looked at each other, groaning nervously. After that, they decided to just stand there and guard their prisoner, making sure he didn't try to escape. All Wembley could do right now was hope Gobo, Red, and the others would come soon.

Gobo led the rescue team down the path, until he came across a fork in the road. It was getting too dark to see anything, and the only light the Fraggles had were some lanterns, and they only provided a dim light.

"If only these lamps were brighter," Gobo said.

"Even if they were, we've still got a problem," Red said. "The road splits here. Which way did they go?"

"I don't see any footprints," Mokey said. "But it might be too dark for that."

"Isn't one of the amulet's powers light?" Red asked.

"Yeah," Lou said. "But I can't do anything about it, Red. I don't know how this works. I don't know how to activate it. I mean, what do you expect me to do? Touch the yellow stone and say let there be light?"

Lou touched the yellow stone as she said that. The musical note played, and the other Fraggles waited, hoping that was all it took to activate the amulet, but, unfortunately, that was not the case.

"I had a feeling that would have been too easy," Boober groaned. "Can't anything ever be easy for once?!"

"Like I said," Mokey said, shrugging, "the world works in mysterious ways."

"Well, you can figure out how to work that thing later," Red said. "Right now, we'd better figure out which way those goblins went."

Lou sighed, and began to play some music with the amulet, just for the heck of it. She didn't know what else to do. As she played the final note, the note held even after she took her finger off the stone. It happened to be the yellow stone. The center of the amulet opened, and a blinding flash of light shot out of it.

"Whoa!" Gobo shouted, shielding his eyes.

"We're all gonna go blind!" Boober shouted. "I think my eyes are actually _bleed_ ing!"

"Where did _that_ come from?" Mokey asked.

"Ummm . . . ." Lou said. "I think I just unlocked the light."

"Great," Boober said. "But how do you turn it _off_?"

Lou pushed the yellow stone and the center of the amulet closed, turning off the light. Lou pushed the yellow button again, and the light came back.

"I think I get it now," she said, turning the light off again. "To unlock a power, you have to play a musical sequence, and once it unlocked, it stays unlocked."

"At least until it's locked again," Red said. "Looks like the yellow stone is glowing, too."

The Fraggles looked at the amulet, and saw that Red was right. The yellow stone was glowing, but dimly, while the other stones remained dark. Lou touched the stone again, and brought the light back, and the yellow stone glowed brightly.

"I guess that's how I'll know which ones I've unlocked so far," Lou said.

"Good to know," Red said. "Now all we have to do is find the goblins' trail."

"Hey, look over there!" Gobo shouted. He ran down one of the paths and picked up a small, shiny, blue stone.

"So what?" Boober asked. "It's just a blue rock."

"This looks like one of the small rocks Wembley and I found at the Rainbow Caverns!" Gobo shouted. "Wembley was collecting them to make a necklace out of them for you, Lou. Before he found the amulet, that is."

"Wait a minute, here's another rock!" Mokey shouted, running up ahead a little farther. "Only this time, it's red."

"Wembley had to have dropped them," Red said. "There aren't any other rocks like that around here. The goblins must have gone this way!"

"Let's go!" Gobo shouted. "You lead the way, Lou!"

"Okay!" Lou shouted, and she ran ahead, lighting the way with the amulet.

The five Fraggles had followed the multi-colored stones to the riverbank. By then, it was definitely too dark to see anything, and they were thankful Lou had figured out how to unlock the amulet's powers, though they had talked her out of unlocking the other powers for the time being, just in case she needed the yellow stone for the tune that unlocked them. They didn't want the light to be flashing on and off while they were on the trail.

"Great, a dead end," Red groaned. "What now, oh fearless leader?"

"I don't know," Gobo said. "I don't see anymore colored stones, and there's no way to tell if the goblins were here."

"They probably went down the river," Boober said. "And I also highly doubt Wembley would be able to leave a path of rocks down it, either."

"I'll go check," Red said. She took off her backpack, took a couple of paces backward, and then ran to the riverbank, executing a perfect summersault back flip in mid air before she hit the water.

"Show off," Gobo muttered under his breath.

"I'm getting a bad feeling about this," Boober said. "I can't see Red anymore."

"Shine the light on the water, Lou," Mokey said.

"It won't help," Lou said, scanning the river with the amulet. "The water's too murky."

"Don't worry," Gobo said. "You know Red when it comes to water. If she could breathe underwater, she'd live in the Fraggle Pond."

"I'm still getting a bad feeling about this," Boober said.

"You always feel like that," Gobo said. "I'm sure Red's just . . . . ."

" _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!_ " Gobo was interrupted by an extremely loud, ear-piercing, glass-shattering shriek.

It turned out to be Red. She popped out of the water and raced to the shore like a scalded mudbunny. One of her pigtail ribbons was missing, one of her sleeves was torn off, and there was a great, gaping hole in the front of her sweater. She plowed into Gobo, knocking him off his feet, and both of them wound up summersaulting backwards. Once they stopped, Gobo found Red shaking like a leaf, and clinging to him like a creeper vine. Her eyes were wide with fear, and she was whimpering.

"Red, what's the matter?" he asked, completely shocked. He had ever seen Red like this before!

"M-m-m-m-monst-st-st-st-ster!" Red stammered. "Big! Ugly! Teeth! HUGE! _AAAAAHHHH_!"

And with that final shriek, Red fainted, right into Gobo's arms.

"Wow," Gobo said. "I've _never_ seen her react like _this_ to something in the water before!"

"Poor Red!" Mokey shouted. "Look at the state she's in! She must have had quite an ordeal down there!"

"At least her baloobious is in working order," Boober said, picking up Red's tail to inspect the tuft of hair at the end of it, which was flared out so much, it resembled a blooming flower.

"Ugh . . . ." Red groaned, as she started regaining consciousness. " _Please_ tell me I was only dreaming that thing!"

"I don't know," Gobo said, shrugging. "You're the one who saw it, not us. But I doubt it, considering how you look."

"That was one of your best sweaters, too," Mokey said, wrapping her best friend in a comforting hug. "You poor thing! What happened down there?"

"It was awful!" Red shouted. "I couldn't see anything down there, and then, all of a sudden, this _huge_ black and yellow monster shows up with these gi _gan_ tic teeth! It almost got me three times down there! First it grabbed me by the sleeve, then it grabbed me by the front of my sweater, and then it managed to grab me by one of my ribbons!"

"How did it do that?" Lou asked.

"It came loose while I was trying to get away from it," Red explained. "I've never been so scared in my entire life!"

"It sure sounds terrifying all right!" Gobo shouted. "I'd sure like to know what it is, though."

"I sure wouldn't!" Boober shouted. "If _Red_ is scared of it, it must be a doozy!"

"We have to find out what it is," Lou said.

"We do?" Boober asked. "What for?"

"So we know what we're up against when we find a way down this river," Lou said.

"Why do we have to go down the river?" Boober asked. "I mean, it's obvious what happened. The goblins got to this riverbank, tried to cross it, and were eaten by the monster that almost ate Red!"

"And what about Wembley?" Gobo asked.

"The monster probably got him, too!" Boober shouted, then he began sniffling. "Poor little guy. He was too young to be eaten by a river monster!"

"We don't know that for sure," Lou said, as Boober let out a wail of despair.

"Yeah, if that monster _did_ eat those goblins, there'd be some signs of it," Gobo said.

"Oh yeah, you're right," Boober said. "When a monster eats somebody, they usually chew them up, and spit out the bones, and I don't see any bones around, so you're probably right, Gobo."

" _Boo_ ber!" Gobo shouted, his face turning a little green. The girls looked a little sick themselves. "What'd you have to go and say _that_ for?!"

"What?" Boober asked. "All I said was . . . ."

"Never mind!" Lou shouted. "Hand me one of those rocks we found, Mokey."

"What do you want it for?" Mokey asked, handing Lou a pink rock.

"I want to see something," Lou said.

The lavender Fraggle walked over to the edge of the riverbank, threw the small rock into the water, and stepped back as far as she could. A split-second later, an enormous fish with large teeth came jumping out of the water. Upon seeing it, Lou let out a deafening shriek.

"Oh my goodness!" Mokey gasped.

"Great googly-moogly!" Gobo shouted.

"Yaaaaahhhhh!" Boober yelled, and then he collapsed in a dead faint, landing flat on his back.

"That's it!" Red shouted. "That's the monster!"

"No wonder you were so freaked out," Boober said, sitting up. "I'd be scared to death, too! With that, Boober fainted again. Gobo picked him up, and began running away. Red, Mokey, and Lou followed. They didn't want to be in the near vicinity while that monster was around.

"What _was_ that thing?" Mokey asked, as the monster dove back into the water.

"I read about it in a book somewhere," Boober said, coming to his senses again. "The Great Big Book of Monsters and Myths. It's a great reference book to anything lurking in caves and beyond. It's called a bananacuda, because it's skin looks like an overripe banana peel. They've been known to eat anything that moves, including Gorgs!"

"But Gorgs are bigger than those things," Mokey said.

"I know," Boober said. The other Fraggles looked at each other, and shuddered.

"Did your book say anything about what to do if you encounter a bananacuda, Boober?" Mokey asked.

"Yes, actually," Boober said. "It said if you see one before it sees you, turn around, go home, go to bed, pull the covers over your head, and stay there for three months! Bye!"

"Now wait a minute, Boober!" Red shouted, grabbing Boober's tail just as the blue Fraggle was about to take off running. "We didn't come all this way just to be stopped by a giant fish!"

"But Re- _ed_!" Boober whined. "How are we supposed to get past that bananacuda? It'll catch us, chew us up, and spit out our bones!"

"Yeeccchhh!" Lou groaned at the mental image.

"Well, swimming's out," Gobo said. "For obvious reasons. I think there's only one thing we can do."

"Turn around, go home, and forget the whole thing?" Boober asked, hopefully.

"No!" Gobo shouted. "We're going to have to build a boat."

"But won't that bananacuda see it?" Mokey asked.

"We'll just have to risk it, Mokey," Lou said, shrugging. "It's the only thing we can do. We have to find Wembley before those goblins do something terrible to him! Besides, maybe I'll unlock another one of the amulet's powers along the way."

"Right!" Red shouted, enthusiastically. "While we build the boat, Lou can play around with the amulet!"

"Come on, everybody!" Gobo shouted. "Let's get started!"

"But first," Red said, opening her backpack, "let me change my sweater."


	5. Three Down Five to Go

Dawn was starting to break by the time the Fraggles finished building their boat. This was because they were doing it in shifts. Four Fraggles would work on the boat, while the fifth slept for awhile, and then they would switch out after a couple of hours. After all, they couldn't attempt a successful rescue if they were too tired to even walk! Even though Red had given the okay for Lou not to help build it, she lent a hand, anyway, in between playing tunes on the amulet. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to unlock any of the other powers yet.

"There could be a million combinations to this thing," Lou sighed.

"Just keep trying, Lou," Mokey said, encouragingly. "I'm sure you'll find them all."

"Well, let's get this show on the road, eh?" Gobo said. "Or rather, in the water."

Gobo, Boober, and Lou then pushed the boat into the river, and climbed on, followed by Red and Mokey. Red hoisted the "mainsail," which was one of Mokey's extra sweaters, and they were on their way.

"I hope we don't run into that bananacuda again," Boober said, nervously.

"You and me both!" Red shouted. "I hope there aren't more than one!"

"I hope I can unlock the rest of this amulet!" Lou shouted, continuing to press the colored stones. "I don't think I'll be able to do much with only light."

"I just hope Wembley's all right," Gobo said.

"Me too," Mokey said, nodding.

"Me three," Lou said. "Those goblins better not hurt him, or else I'm gonna hurt them!"

The others agreed. They continued floating down the river, looking for signs of the goblins, but they weren't having much luck. And their luck was about to get much worse.

"I'm starting to get an icky feeling in the pit of my stomach," Gobo said.

"I know what you mean," Boober said. "I'm feeling a little seasick, too. _Herk!_ "

Boober covered his mouth with his hand, and leaned over the side of the boat. Gobo groaned, and rolled his eyes.

"No, I didn't mean _that_!" he shouted. "I _meant_ I get the feeling something bad's going to happen."

"I get that feeling all the time, too," Boober said.

"Yeah, but Gobo doesn't," Red said. "And neither do I, but I'm starting to get that feeling, too."

"Me too," Mokey said, nervously.

"That makes it unanimous," Lou said, fiddling with the stones on the amulet.

Before any of the five Fraggles could say anything else, they saw a huge shadow from underneath the water pass under their boat. The next thing they knew, a huge bananacuda leapt out of the water, it's mouth wide open, showing off it's six inch long teeth.

"YIIIIIIIIIII!" all five Fraggles screamed in unison.

Immediately, Gobo, Red, and Boober stuck their arms in the water and began paddling as fast as they could. The bananacuda went after them. Lou pressed the yellow stone on the amulet, and shot a light beam at the giant fish's eyes. The fish yowled in pain, but it didn't stop it from coming after the Fraggles.

"We've got to do something fast!" Red shouted.

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Lou shouted, pressing a series of stones on the amulet.

Suddenly, the indigo stone's note held, and the center of the amulet opened, revealing a dark blue light. The water began to churn, and a giant wave appeared, washing over the bananacuda, pushing him down into the water. It came back up again, and Lou pushed the indigo stone once more. Every time the wave she created from it pushed the bananacuda down into the water, the giant fish just kept coming back up.

"If you're trying to drown the bananacuda, Lou, it won't work!" Red shouted. "It's a fish! They _live_ in water!"

"Oh, yeah," Lou said, sheepishly. "Well, maybe I can try something else with the water power."

Lou aimed the amulet at the water underneath the boat, creating another wave, which pushed the Fraggles ahead of the bananacuda, but it wasn't enough. It was quickly gaining on them, even after that boost.

"That was a good try, Lou," Gobo said. "But I think we're going to need something else to get away from that fish!"

"If we could only get some more speed!" Mokey shouted.

"We'd have to lighten the load to do that," Gobo said.

"Anybody want to volunteer to jump out?" Red asked.

"RED!" the other Fraggles yelled, glaring at the pigtailed Fraggle.

"I was just kidding!" Red retorted.

"I know what will give us more speed," Lou said. "I just haven't unlocked air yet! Oooohhh . . . . . I wish I knew the combination!"

Lou played a series of stones again, and the blue stone held it's note. The center of the amulet opened, and a blast of wind came shooting out of it with the force of a hurricane. It hit the bananacuda, causing it to fly backwards.

"You did it, Lou!" Mokey shouted.

"Yeah, but the bananacuda's coming back!" Boober yelled. "We'll be fish food for sure now!"

"Oh no we won't!" Lou shouted. She pressed the blue stone again, and this time, aimed the amulet at their sail. "Hold on tight, everybody!"

The burst of wind did the trick. It swelled into Mokey's sweater, and pushed the boat ahead so fast, the bananacuda couldn't keep up with it, and it gave up. Gobo, Red, Mokey, and Boober cheered.

"Way to go, Lou!" Red shouted.

"I knew you'd be able to do it!" Mokey shouted.

"Thanks," Lou said. "Three down, and five to go."

"Don't worry, you'll unlock them all when the time comes," Mokey said.

"Yeah, but for right now," Gobo said, "full speed ahead!"

Meanwhile, the goblins had docked their boat, and were taking Wembley to a large, scary looking castle. The green Fraggle gulped upon seeing it. It was even scarier than the Gorgs' castle!

"Halt!" a voice from inside the castle shouted. "Who goes there?!"

"Open up, it's us!" the leader of the goblins shouted.

The drawbridge came down with a loud crash, and the goblins crossed it. Wembley looked down at the moat. He could see the shadows of a couple of extremely large fish swimming in there. The goblin leader noticed this.

"Yes, they _are_ bananacudas," he said.

Wembley let out a whimper and began shaking nervously again. The head goblin began patting him on the back.

"There, there," he said, in that annoying patronizing voice. "It's all right. I already told you, nobody's going to hurt you."

"Yet," one of the other goblins muttered, and then he and a few others began laughing, at least until their leader shot them a dirty look.

The goblins finally stopped in what looked like a throne room, where Narcissa was waiting. The head goblin then dropped Wembley to the floor.

 _THUD!_

"Here he is, your darkness," he said, bowing low.

"It's about time," Narcissa said. "What took you so long?"

"Fraggle Rock was a long way from here," the goblin said, shrugging. "We came as fast as we could, but . . . ."

"Never mind your excuses!" Narcissa shouted. She stood up, and walked over to Wembley. "Now get out of here!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the goblins shouted, saluting. Then they ran out, clattering all the way.

"Goblins," Narcissa groaned. "If it weren't for this _ghastly_ shortage of minions, I'd feed them all to my bananacudas. Now then, let's get down to business, shall we?"

Narcissa stood up, walked over to Wembley, and untied him. Wembley just sat there, shaking nervously, not sure what to do or say.

"There's no need to be afraid, little Fraggle," Narcissa said, speaking in a condescending tone. "I don't bite. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Wh-wh-what do you want with me?" Wembley asked, standing up.

"I'll make this simple," Narcissa said, sitting down in her throne. "I'm a sorceress, and I've been trying to locate my lost amulet, and while using my magic mirror in trying to find it, I noticed that you had found it."

"Oh, you mean a pink necklace with colored stones going around it that plays music when you touch the stones?"

"Yes, exactly! Now, be a good little Fraggle, and give it to me."

"Gee, I'd love to, but I can't. I don't have it anymore."

"What?!"

Narcissa jumped to her feet, grabbed Wembley by the arms, and pulled him up to her eye level.

"What do you mean you don't have it anymore?!" she shouted. "You're holding out on me, aren't you?!"

"No, really, I . . . ." Wembley started, but before he could finish his sentence, Narcissa turned him upside down, and began shaking him as hard as she could by his ankles, trying to see if he was hiding it in his pockets, or quite possibly underneath his shirt. By the time she was finished doing that, Wembley was practically seeing stars.

"All right, where is my amulet?!" Narcissa shouted, turning the green Fraggle right-side up once more.

"I . . . . I . . . ." Wembley stammered. He was so disoriented from being shaken, he couldn't think straight.

"Answer me!" Narcissa shouted, shaking Wembley once more.

"I gave it to my friend, Lou!" Wembley shouted, in a rush.

"You did _what_?!" Narcissa shouted, immediately letting go of Wembley, causing him to drop to the floor.

 _THUD!_

"I . . . . I gave it to my friend, Lou, for her birthday," Wembley said, nervously. "I didn't know it belonged to anyone, I swear! If I had known it belonged to somebody, I wouldn't have given it to her! I'm sorry!"

"You miserable little . . . ."

Narcissa raised her hand, ready to smack the little green Fraggle across the face. Wembley began shaking nervously again, and whimpered, cowering before this Silly Creature. Instead of backhanding him, Narcissa turned, and stormed over to her mirror. She waved her hand over it, and an image of Gobo, Mokey, Boober, Red and Lou floating down the river in their boat appeared. She spotted the amulet right away. Lou was trying out different combinations on it. The yellow, indigo, and blue stones were glowing softly.

"Oh no," Narcissa said. "No, no, no, this isn't happening! This _can't_ be happening!"

"What's the matter?" Wembley asked. "All you have to do is tell Lou that it's your amulet, and she'll give it back to you."

"You little _fool_!" Narcissa shouted. "The powers of light, water, and air have been unlocked! _She's_ the Chosen One!"

"The Chosen One?"

"If she unlocks the rest of the Rainbow Amulet's powers, she'll never surrender it to me, and then I won't be able to take over the universe!"

"Surrender it? Take over the universe? You mean the necklace doesn't _really_ belong to you?"

"Were you really naive enough to believe that? My own powers aren't strong enough to dominate the universe! I need the Rainbow Amulet in order to do that!"

While Narcissa was looking into her mirror and grumbling at the turn of events, Wembley started to sneak out of the throne room. He figured it was a good time to do so, since Narcissa's attention was diverted. Unfortunately, she deactivated her mirror, and noticed Wembley trying to slip out the door in it's reflection. She waved her hand, and the door slammed shut.

"Where do you think you're going?!" she demanded.

"I . . . . uhhh . . . . I was just . . . . umm, uhhh . . . ." Wembley stammered.

Narcissa smiled sneakily, and walked toward the green Fraggle. Wembley gulped, and began to back away, until he hit the door, and Narcissa had him cornered.

"I'm afraid you're not going anywhere, little one," she said. "You see, your little friends are on their way here, and I'd _hate_ for them to have come all this way only to find out you weren't here waiting for them. We can't have that now, can we?"

"We . . . . we can't?" Wembley asked, gulping.

"No, we can't."

Narcissa grabbed Wembley by the arms, lifted him off the ground, and began cackling madly.


	6. The Lady and the Fraggles

Thanks to the amulet's wind, the Fraggles managed to find the goblins' boat in record time. Gobo steered toward the shore, but the boat was approaching it pretty fast.

"Lou!" Gobo shouted. "Turn the wind off! We're gonna . . . ."

Before Gobo could finish the sentence, the boat crashed right into the shore, causing the five Fraggles to go flying, landing right in the mud.

"Crash," Gobo said, finishing his sentence.

"Oops," Lou said. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay, Lou," Mokey said, wiping the mud off her stomach. "You're still getting the hang of using that amulet."

"Hey! Get me out of here!" Red's muffled voice shouted. The other Fraggles looked, and found that Red was stuck head first in the mud. Mokey and Lou grabbed her legs, and pulled as hard as they could, until they managed to get her out.

" _Ptooey_!" Red shouted, spitting mud out of her mouth. "Thanks. I think."

"Look at all these mud stains," Boober said. "I'll be doing laundry for a week!"

"I thought you liked doing laundry," Gobo said.

"I do," Boober said. "Matter of fact, I think I should get started on it right away so these mud stains don't set in permanently. No time like the present, they say! And since I don't have my tub or washboard, I'll have to do your laundry the old fashioned way and pound it on the rocks here in the river. That could take awhile."

"But, Boober, what about Wembley?" Mokey asked. "We have to rescue him, remember?"

"Oh, I remember," Boober said. "But since it's going to take awhile to finish your laundry by pounding it on the rocks, you guys don't have to wait for me. I'll catch up to you once I'm finished!"

"Oh no you don't!" Red shouted, grabbing Boober by the scarf once again, and dragging him down a path. "You're not getting out of this that easy!"

"Oooohhh, darn it!" Boober groaned.

"How do we find out where the goblins went from here?" Mokey asked. "There aren't anymore colored rocks to follow."

"Wembley probably ran out," Gobo said, looking around. "But my explorer's intuition tells me they went down this path to the left."

"What makes you so sure?" Red asked.

"Call it a hunch," Gobo said.

Red looked down the path Gobo was referring to, and saw a big, dark castle in the distance. She began shiver from nervousness. The others felt the same way.

"Y-y-you think maybe your hunch could be wrong, Gobo?" Boober asked.

"Nope," Gobo said. "It's the scariest place around here. Where else would an evil sorceress with ugly goblins as minions live?"

"I just hope Wembley's okay," Lou said, pressing the yellow stone on the amulet. "Narcissa's had to have found out he doesn't have the amulet by now."

"Yeah," Gobo said. "I'd hate to think what she's gonna do to the little guy."

"Don't you say a word, Boober!" Red warned. She knew Boober would only say something that would make the other Fraggles nervous. Boober kept his mouth shut.

Lou led the Fraggles down the dark path. Boober had picked up a long stick, and began poking it into the brush. Gobo and Red looked at him as if he were crazy.

"Boober, _what_ are you doing?" Red asked.

"Looking for booby traps," Boober said. "You never know what's lurking in these woods!"

"Oh brother," Red sighed.

"Boober, I think you worry too much," Gobo said.

"Maybe it's a good thing I do," Boober said. "Otherwise, you'd spot a giant radish, and when you go into take it, it activates a spring which activates a big metal bar, and then, _SNAP!_ Your neck's broken and you die a gruesome, painful death!"

"Yeah, okay," Gobo said, feeling sick. "We get it, Boober."

"Or you get squished by giant, metal teeth!" Boober shouted.

"We get it, Boober," Mokey said.

"Or you get locked in a cage forever, and starve to death because they don't feed you!" Boober shouted.

"We get it, Boober," Lou said.

"Or you trigger another trap and get flattened like a pancake!" Boober shouted.

"We get it, Boober," Red said, starting to get impatient.

"Or . . . ." Boober began.

"We get it, Boober!" Red, Gobo, Mokey, and Lou yelled in unison.

"Oh," Boober said. "Uhh, sorry."

The other four Fraggles rolled their eyes, and sighed. They continued on their way, with Boober checking for traps. He wasn't taking any chances. When the Fraggles reached Narcissa's castle, they found the drawbridge open, and not a goblin in sight.

"Hmmm," Red said. "Nobody around. Getting in is going to be easier than I thought!"

"Maybe a little _too_ easy," Gobo said.

"Don't knock it, Gobo," Red said. "If it's going to be easy, I say let it be easy!"

"Yeah, but you know what could happen if something is _too_ easy," Gobo pointed out. "If it's _too_ easy, it's bound to be a trick!"

"So what do you think we should do?" Lou asked.

Gobo thought this over for a minute. Then he sighed.

"Let's go in," he said. "But be _very_ careful!"

"Right," Boober said. "You can never be too careful! Especially when something is too easy!"

The five Fraggles crossed the drawbridge, and into the castle. Once inside, they began looking around. Lou used the amulet to light things up, but she didn't have the slightest idea where to look for Wembley.

"We should try the dungeon," Red suggested. "Every villain that lives in a castle _always_ puts their prisoners in the dungeon!"

"Okay, but which way is the dungeon?" Mokey asked.

"Let's try this way," Red said, pointing toward a hallway.

"It's as good a way as any," Gobo said, shrugging.

The five Fraggles went down the dark hallway, getting more and more nervous by the second. Nobody seemed to be around. Boober began shivering and whimpering.

"I don't like this," he said. "I think this is even more scary than it would be if there were goblins all over the place."

"I know, Boober," Mokey said. "It _is_ kind of eerie, isn't it?"

The Fraggles came to a set of stairs leading down at the end of the hall, so they followed them to a doorway. It had a small window with bars on it.

"What did I tell you?" Red asked. "Here's the dungeon!"

Gobo pushed the door, and, much to his surprise, he found it unlocked.

"That's weird," he said. "You'd think she'd have this locked!"

"Maybe it isn't the dungeon after all," Mokey said, stepping through the door. She and the other Fraggles found themselves standing outside in some kind of courtyard. "Maybe it's just the back door."

"Hey, look over there!" Red shouted, pointing across the courtyard. "It's Wembley!"

The others looked, and Red was right. There was Wembley in the center of the courtyard, tied to a chair and gagged, struggling to get loose.

"Hang on, Wembley!" Lou shouted, as she and the others started to run over. "We're coming!"

Wembley stopped struggling when he heard Lou's voice, and saw his friends coming over. He shook his head vigorously, and began screaming, but his screams were muffled by the gag.

"Don't worry, little buddy!" Gobo shouted. "We'll have you out of this in no time!"

Wembley continued screaming and shaking his head. Gobo noticed he looked nervous about something. The minute the Fraggles got to him, Gobo removed the gag from his best friend's mouth.

"What's the matter Wembley?" he asked.

"IT'S A TRAP!" Wembley screamed at the top of his lungs.

 _CLANG!_

Immediately, a heavy cage dropped on the six Fraggles. They all began talking at once, as Narcissa and her goblins came out of the shadows, surrounding the cage.

"You know, Wembley," Red said, sounding perturbed, "you coulda warned us about this a little sooner!"

The other Fraggles groaned, and glared at Red for that one.

"Seriously, Red?" Gobo asked, giving Red a look as he and Lou untied Wembley. "I mean, _seriously_?!"

"I can't believe you _fools_ fell for something _so_ obvious!" Narcissa shouted, laughing. Then she turned to her goblins. "Take them to the throne room immediately!"

"Yes, your wickedness," the leader of the goblins said, and he began snickering.

The next thing the six Fraggles knew, they were being marched into the castle throne room. Several goblins were behind them, and they were holding pointed spears.

"Get moving, get moving!" one of the goblins shouted.

"You wouldn't be so tough if you didn't have those spears!" Boober shouted.

"Yeah, well we do have them!" the goblin shouted. "So get moving, shorty!"

The goblin then poked Boober in the behind with the spear.

"YEOW!" Boober shouted. He shot forward past his friends and the goblins in the lead, and crashed directly into Narcissa, knocking her into her throne. He groaned, feeling a bit dazed. Once he composed himself, he realized where he was, laying in the lap of the evil sorceress, and she didn't look too happy about it.

"Gee," he said, with a nervous laugh. "I didn't know you cared!"

Narcissa picked up Boober, stood up silently, and dropped the blue Fraggle to the ground. Boober landed with a thud, and ran to his friends, trying to hide behind Mokey, since she was the tallest. Narcissa looked at the Fraggles carefully, one by one, until she got to Lou.

"I assume you must be Lou," she said. "Delighted to meet you, my dear. Welcome to my castle. May I call you Lou?"

"No, you may not!" Lou shouted. She didn't like that the sorceress was acting so chummy with her all of a sudden.

"Very well," Narcissa said, not even batting an eye. "I'll call you Louise, then. Your little green friend there told me all I had to do was ask you to give me the amulet, and you'd give it to me."

"Sorry, Lou," Wembley said. "She told me it belonged to her, and I said you'd give it to you if she asked you to, but that was before I found out it isn't really hers, so don't give it to her! She only wants to use it to take over the . . . ."

One of the goblins then grabbed Wembley, and clamped his hand over the young Fraggle's mouth to keep him quiet. Red ran over, and stopped on the goblin's foot as hard as she could.

"Yeouch!" the goblin shouted, ultimately letting go of Wembley.

"Leave Wembley alone, you big creep!" Red shouted.

Wembley immediately ran over to Gobo, and began clinging to him, shaking nervously, and whimpering a little. Gobo wrapped his arms around his best friend, protectively, and glared at the goblins.

"We already know, Wembley," Lou explained. "Cantus told us all about it."

"Cantus, eh?" Narcissa asked. "You mean Cantus the Minstrel? I should have guessed _he'd_ tell you. He _is_ a Fraggle after all. That pompous, two-bit, fifth-rate, pied piper!"

"Don't you dare talk about Cantus that way!" Mokey shouted. "He's the greatest!"

"Struck a nerve, did we?" Narcissa asked, with a smirk.

"How do you know Cantus, anyway?" Gobo asked.

"Oh, he and his little no-talent band have wandered in and out of here many a time," Narcissa said. "That's probably how he knows about me and the amulet. But no matter. Since you already know of the amulet's powers, I suppose I should stop beating around the bush, shouldn't I, Louise? Why don't you save us a lot of trouble and give me the amulet, hmmm?"

"You can forget trying to be my friend, Narcissa," Lou said. "I'm not gonna give you the amulet!"

"Well, now," Narcissa said. "It would appear I misjudged you Fraggles. I didn't think you'd be smart enough to understand the power the Rainbow Amulet contains."

"That's why I'm not giving it to you!" Lou shouted. "No matter what you say! You can do what you want to me, but I won't surrender the amulet!"

The other Fraggles began cheering for Lou then. Narcissa just stood there, cool as a cucumber.

"Well," she said, calmly. "Nothing I can do to you will make you give me the amulet?"

"Nothing!" Lou shouted.

"I see," Narcissa said. "But what if I should do something to your five little friends?"

Narcissa walked over to the Fraggles, and grabbed Wembley, yanking him away from Gobo. The orange Fraggle glared, and was about to go after her, but before he could, he was grabbed by one of the goblins. Mokey, Red, and Boober were also seized by the goblins.

"Hey!" Red shouted, struggling. "Let us go!"

"I'll let you go, all right," she said. "I'll let you all go, right out the window! This window over here is directly above my moat, and my moat is filled with bananacudas. I'm sure you're familiar with them, since you had to cross a river full of them to get here."

"Yeah, we're all too familiar with bananacudas," Boober said.

"Fabulous," Narcissa said, with an evil smile. "I'm sure they would just _love_ a little Fraggle snack."

Narcissa chuckled a bit, and then held Wembley out of the window by the back of his shirt, ready to let go of him, and drop him into the moat.

"No!" Mokey shouted. "Not little Wembley! You wouldn't! You can't!"

"Oh don't worry, my dear," Narcissa said. "I promise, after I throw the little one to my bananacudas, _you'll_ be the next one to go!"

"Why you . . . . you . . . ." Red began, but she just couldn't think of anything bad enough to call Narcissa.

"It's your choice, Louise, dear," Narcissa said. "Either you give me the amulet, or I'll feed your friends to my bananacudas!"

"No, Lou!" Wembley shouted. "Don't do it! Don't give the amulet to this . . . . this witch!"

"Oh, aren't you just a little sweetie-pie?" Narcissa asked, pinching Wembley's cheek as hard as she could. "My bananacudas just _love_ sweet things to eat!"

Lou thought over this one. She didn't want to give Narcissa the amulet, but she didn't want her friends to become bananacuda bait. She looked at the amulet, and then got an idea.

"Okay, Narcissa," she said. "You win. I'll give you the amulet, if you promise not to feed my friends to your fish."

" _What?!_ " the other Fraggles shouted, incredulously.

"I knew you'd see it my way," Narcissa said. "Now be a good little Fraggle, and give me the amulet."

"First, step away from the window," Lou said. "I won't give it to you until Wembley's safe."

"How do I know this isn't a trick?" Narcissa asked.

"I promise I'll give it to you, but only _after_ I know Wembley won't be fish food. I refuse to give it to you if he's hurt in any way."

"Very well then. I'll take him away from the window. But I won't let him go until after I get the amulet. Do we have a deal?"

"As long as you don't hurt him."

Lou kind of figured Narcissa wasn't going to let Wembley go, but all she needed was to get him away from the window, anyway. Narcissa stepped away from the window and stood in front of her throne, keeping a good, firm grip on Wembley.

"All right, my dear," she said. "Now give it to me."

"Oh, I'll give it to you all right," Lou said, with a sneaky smile, and she pressed the yellow stone. "Take this!"

The center of the amulet opened, and a beam of bright yellow light shot out of it, right into Narcissa's eyes. The sorceress let out a shriek, and immediately dropped Wembley, trying to shield her eyes from the blinding flash.

"Aaaahhh! My eyes!" she yelled. Then she directed her words to her goblins, even though she couldn't see them.

"Seize her!" she demanded. "Seize her, you fools!"

"Oh no you don't!" Lou shouted, and she shined the light right into the goblins' eyes. Goblins were sensitive to bright lights, and they screamed as if they were being murdered.

"The light! The light!" one shouted.

"Oooohhhh how it _buuuuurrrrrrns_!" another wailed.

"Let's get out of here!" Gobo shouted, once the goblins let go of him and the other Fraggles.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Boober shouted, and he took off like a shot. The other five Fraggles were quick to follow him.

"Stop them!" Narcissa shouted, rubbing her eyes furiously. "Don't let them get away, you idiots! Especially not the Chosen One!"

After the goblins recovered from the light, they ran after the Fraggles, who, by this time, were crossing the drawbridge.

"They're following us!" Red shouted, looking over her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll stop them!" Lou shouted. "You guys just keep running!"

"Be careful, Lou," Wembley said.

"Don't worry, I will," Lou said, taking Wembley's hand, and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Once all her friends were safely across the drawbridge, Lou stopped, while the other five kept running. She took a couple of steps backwards, and began touching the stones on the amulet.

"There's she is!" the goblin leader shouted. "Grab her!"

"Yaaaaarrrrrr!" the goblin army shouted, and began racing across the drawbridge.

Lou continued playing music with the amulet, until she pressed the red stone, and the note held. A gigantic flame shot out of the center of the amulet, striking the drawbridge, as well as some goblin feet.

"Yaaaahhhh!" several goblins yelled, running back to the castle.

"Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!" one shouted, as he followed his comrades.

The drawbridge burned away completely, and the goblins that were still standing on it fell right into the moat. They tried to climb out and back into the castle. Some were successful, but most of them just weren't able to get away from the bananacudas. The next thing Lou heard was the sound of screaming goblins and chomping teeth. Not wanting to see the outcome of this, she ran off to catch up with the Fraggle Five.

"Retreat!" the goblin leader shouted, and he and his remaining troops ran back into the castle as fast as they could. With the drawbridge destroyed, there was no way they could chase after the Fraggles.

"Yay, Lou!" Wembley shouted, once the lavender Fraggle caught up with her friends.

"That was a great idea, Lou!" Gobo shouted. "With the drawbridge gone, the goblins can't follow us, and it will buy us some time to get out of here!"

"And back to Fraggle Rock!" Boober shouted. "Let's go!"

"You guys go ahead," Lou said. "I can't go back to Fraggle Rock now."

"Why not?" Mokey asked. "Those goblins won't stop us."

"I know, but I haven't defeated Narcissa yet," Lou said. "Cantus said I have to use the amulet to defeat her."

"I think you pretty much defeated her already," Red said, shrugging.

"Yeah, and I don't want to hang around to find out if she's really defeated or if she's only sort of defeated," Boober said.

"I know, Boober," Lou said. "But I have to stay and make sure she's really defeated. Something is telling me she isn't, and she won't be until I unlock the rest of the amulet's powers."

"But it might be dangerous!" Boober shouted.

"Yeah, even with that drawbridge broken, she might find a way to come after you, Lou," Gobo said.

"I know," Lou said. "Which is why you guys should go back to Fraggle Rock now. She's after me, not you. And she might try to use you guys to get to me. I don't want any of you to get hurt."

"Sounds like good reasoning to me!" Boober said. He grabbed Lou's hand, and shook it vigorously. "Good luck, Lou, and Rock speed to you! So long!"

Boober began running away as fast as he could. Gobo, Red, and Mokey followed. Lou did have a point, but they still weren't sure they should leave.

"You coming, Wembley?" Gobo asked.

"Ummm . . . ." Wembley said, thinking about this, trying to decide. Sure, it would be safer in Fraggle Rock, but he didn't want Lou to be alone in a strange place, especially with an evil sorceress after her.

"You guys go ahead," he said, finally. "I'm gonna stay here with Lou."

"Wemb _ley_!" Lou shouted. "I already told you, I don't want you to get hurt!"

"I know, Lou," Wembley said. "But I don't want you to get hurt either! I don't want you to be alone! If you're gonna stay out here, then I want to stay with you. Maybe I can even help you. But I'm _not_ going back to Fraggle Rock without you!"

"Oh, Wembley," Lou said, smiling. "You're the best!"

Lou gave Wembley a peck on the cheek. Wembley blushed a little. Gobo turned back, and headed toward Wembley and Lou.

"If Wembley stays, then I stay!" he shouted. "You're gonna need someone who's experienced in exploring! This place is full of areas no Fraggle has ever been before!"

"Hey, you're not gonna be the only hero and get all the credit around here!" Red shouted. "Besides, someone's gotta stay and look after you boys, and make sure you don't get into trouble!"

"And if Red stays, I stay!" Mokey shouted, marching over to her friends. "Best friends don't leave each other in the face of danger!"

"But . . . . but it's too dangerous to stay here!" Boober shouted. "And besides, what about me?! I can't face the bananacudas by myself!"

"I'm sure you'll be fine, Boober," Gobo said. "The thing is I _have_ to stay and keep an eye on Wembley."

"And _I_ have to stay to keep an eye on Gobo," Red said. That earned her a dirty look from Gobo.

"But Mokey, you don't have to stay!" Boober said. "You and I can go back to Fraggle Rock together, where it's nice and safe! Don't leave me alone to tackle a bananacuda! Please!"

"I'm sorry, Boober," Mokey said. "But Red is my best friend, and I don't want to go and leave her where it's dangerous. I don't want to leave Gobo, Wembley, or Lou, either."

"It's okay, Boober," Wembley said. "We don't mind if you'd rather go back to Fraggle Rock than stay here and helping us stop Narcissa from taking over the entire universe, which will include Fraggle Rock anyway."

Boober turned, and ran off toward the river, wanting to get back to Fraggle Rock as fast as he could. Then, he suddenly stopped. He couldn't desert his friends now. He'd feel like a coward if he did. He sighed, turned around, and ran back to them.

"Boober, you came back!" Mokey shouted.

"Yeah, I came back," Boober said with a sigh. "But let me tell you something, Lou. If I wind up crushed, smashed, fried, squished, dismembered, and dead, I am never speaking to you again!"


	7. On the Road

When the remaining goblins returned to the throne room to give their report, Narcissa was not very pleased with them.

"You let her escape?!" she shouted. "You incompetent idiots! What are you just standing there for? Go after her!"

"We can't, your wonderful wickedness!" the leader shouted. "She unlocked the red stone, and set fire to the drawbridge! Nobody can leave the castle now! Not unless you want to be eaten by your bananacudas."

"Excuses, excuses! Looks like I'll have to do this myself!"

"How are you going to do that?"

"With magic, of course! I _am_ a sorceress, you dingbat! _Sheesh_! If you goblins had brains, you'd be dangerous. Now go out there and fix the drawbridge!"

Narcissa stood up and walked over to her mirror. She waved her hand over it, and an image of the six Fraggles appeared. They were walking into a wooded area. Narcissa smiled.

"How perfect," she said, smiling evilly. She waved her hand again, and waited for the fun to start.

The woods the Fraggles had entered were covered in vines. It was creepy, but it seemed safe, for the time being. Gobo was just finishing up explaining to Wembley what was going on with the amulet.

"And, apparently, Lou's the Chosen One," he said. "Once she unlocks the amulet's powers, and defeats Narcissa, the princess will return to reclaim her throne."

"Wow!" Wembley shouted. "How will we know the princess? I mean, what does she look like?"

"We don't know," Mokey said, shrugging. "We'll just have to wait and see."

Wembley nodded. It was about all he could do. That, and follow his friends. The further they went into the woods, the creepier it seemed to become.

"I don't like it in here," Boober said, clinging to Gobo's arm.

"You don't like it anywhere," Red said, rolling her eyes.

"That's not true!" Boober shouted, indignantly. "I like it in my hidey hole! It's safe there! It's creepy in here. These vines remind me of Clinging Creepers."

"Y-y-yeah," Wembley said, clinging to Gobo's other arm. "Clinging Creepers!"

"Oh, I don't think so," Mokey said. "I find it very nice in here. Very calm, and peaceful."

"Yeah, calm and peaceful," Wembley repeated.

"Wembley, do you _have_ to agree with _every_ one?" Red asked.

"He can't help it, Red," Gobo said. "He's a very agreeable Fraggle."

"That's one of the things I like about him," Lou said. "Though, actually, I'm kind of on agreement with Boober. These vines _do_ remind me of Clinging Creepers."

"Oh, not you too, Lou!" Red groaned. "They're just vines! Look at 'em, they're not even moving! What do you expect them to do, reach out and grab you?"

The minute Red said this, a vine shot out, and wrapped itself around Lou, hoisting her into the air.

"Help!" she shouted.

"Lou!" Wembley shouted, and he grabbed hold of the lavender Fraggle's ankles, in an attempt to pull her out of the vine's grip, but the vine was too strong for him.

"You and your big mouth, Red!" Gobo shouted, grabbing one of Wembley's ankles to give him a hand.

"Well, how was I supposed to know it really _was_ gonna reach out and grab Lou?!" Red argued, grabbing Wembley's other ankle.

"Never mind that now!" Wembley shouted. "We've gotta get her out of this!"

"Okay," Gobo said, as Boober grabbed his waist, and Mokey grabbed Red's. "On the count of three, everybody pull as hard as you can! One, two, three, PULL!"

All five Fraggles pulled as hard as they possibly could against the vine. Luckily, with one good yank, they managed to get Lou out of the vine's grip, but they all wound up falling over backwards, thanks to the momentum.

"Are you okay, Lou?" Wembley asked, helping his friend to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm okay now," Lou said. "Thanks, Wembley. Thanks, everybody."

"Save the thanks!" Boober shouted. "It's coming back!"

"And it's got reinforcements, too!" Gobo shouted. "Run for it!"

The Fraggles took off like a shot, but the vines were right on top of them. Red was the first victim. She didn't even notice when one of them wrapped itself around both of her ankles, until she tripped.

"Whoa!" she shouted, landing face first into the dirt. "Hey! What do you think you're doing, you . . . . you clinging vine?!"

The vine then lifted Red up, and dangled her upside down, swinging her back and forth.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Let go of me!"

The vine continued swinging Red around. The pigtailed Fraggle did not enjoy the experience one bit.

"Boy," she groaned. "These things have even worse manners than Lanford!"

Lanford was Mokey's pet Night-Blooming-Yellow-Leaved Deathwort. Mokey loved him dearly, and she was not at all amused at Red's comment. As a matter of fact, when she heard Red say that, she stopped running.

"Hey!" she shouted, sounding insulted. "Now what's that supposed to . . . . whoop!"

Another vine wrapped itself around Mokey's chest, pinning her arms to her sides, and hoisted her into the air. That was when the Fraggles saw what the vines were attached to. It looked like a giant Venus fly-trap, with huge, sharp teeth.

"Oh no . . . ." Red said, nervously. "It even _looks_ like Lanford! We're doomed!"

"I don't think that's very funny, Red!" Mokey shouted.

"Oh no!" Boober shouted. "That thing's even bigger than a Gorg! Poor Red and Mokey! They're doomed! Doomed, I tell you! Doomed!"

"Oh no they're not!" Gobo shouted, pulling his pickaxe out of his backpack. "Hey, tall, green, and gruesome! Pick on someone your own size!"

Gobo began whacking at the plant's stem, until another vine crept up above him, and wrapped around the pickaxe, yanking it out of the orange Fraggle's hands. Another wrapped itself around Gobo's wrists, tying them together.

"Uh oh," Gobo said, when he noticed this. Then he was yanked upwards.

"Yiiiiiii!" he shouted, as the vine swung him around, much like it did to Red earlier.

"Oh, my hero," Red said, sarcastically, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.

"You can't do that to my friends!" Wembley shouted, and he began pounding on the stem with his fists.

The plant hissed, and lowered two more vines, wrapping them around Wembley's arms.

"Uh oh . . . ." Wembley said. Then the two vines hoisted him into the air. "Whooooaaaaa!"

"Boober, do something!" Gobo shouted.

"Okay, I will!" Boober shouted. "I'll get out of here as fast as I can! _Aaaaaahhhhh_!"

"Boooobeeerrrr!" Red shouted, frustratedly.

Unfortunately, Boober didn't get very far. Another vine came toward him, and tied itself to his tail.

"Eeeep!" Boober shouted, as he was pulled into the air, and dangling. "Ohhhhh! I just _know_ I'm gonna dislocate my tail if I hang here all day!"

"Don't worry, everybody!" Lou shouted. "I know exactly what to do!"

Lou pressed the red stone on the amulet, and a giant flame shot out of the center of it. She aimed it at the bottom of the plant, intending on giving it a hot root. The plant just snickered sneakily.

"It's not working!" Red shouted.

"I can't understand why," Mokey said. "Plants don't like fire."

Mokey was about to understand why the plant didn't seem to be affected by the fire. It took a deep breath, opened it's mouth, and spat out a flame that would rival that of a fire breathing dragon. It made the flame coming from the amulet look like a birthday candle. Lou screamed, and ran for cover.

"Oh dear!" Mokey shouted. "Now I know what kind of plant this is!"

"What is it, Mokey?" Gobo asked.

"It's a Fire-Breathing Fraggle Eater!" Mokey shouted.

"Oh no!" Boober gasped. "Not a Fire-Breathing Fraggle Eater! We're doomed! Doomed, I say! Doo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoomed!"

"It's nice to know you can keep a cool head in an emergency, Boober," Gobo deadpanned.

"Let me try something else!" Lou shouted. She pushed the indigo stone, but nothing happened, except for it's musical note being played.

"Where's the water?" Red asked.

"It must not work unless there's water around," Gobo said. "Besides, I don't think water would work in this situation, anyway. That's what helps plants grow."

"Yeah, and so does light," Lou said, releasing the indigo stone.

"You'd better do something fast, Lou!" Red shouted, as the Fire-Breathing Fraggle Eater lifted her up, and opened it's mouth. "I think I'm about to be an appetizer!"

Lou bit her lower lip, and began pushing the stones on the amulet frantically. She didn't know what else to do. Finally, when she pushed the green stone, the note held, and a green light came from the amulet's center, and hit the Fire-Breathing Fraggle Eater right between it's eyes (or where it's eyes should have been anyway). It froze the minute the light hit it.

"What the heck?" Lou asked, giving the plant a weird look. "What's going on with that thing?"

"It looks like it's in a trance," Mokey said. "Lanford kind of gets like this when he's watching Red swing around in circles on her gymnast rings."

"You mean you think it's hypnotized?" Red asked.

"Why not?" Mokey asked. "After all, it looks like Lou _did_ unlock the green stone, and Cantus said that one had plant powers."

"Quick, Lou! Give it an order!" Gobo shouted. "We'll see if it works!"

"Okay," Lou said. "Uhhh, hey, you giant plant! Put my friends down! But gently, okay?"

The Fire-Breathing Fraggle Eater growled softly, and lowered the Fraggle Five to the ground gently, unwrapping it's vines from them.

"Wow, it worked," Lou said. "It's in my control!"

"Yay, Lou!" Wembley cheered.

"Now, Mr. Plant," Lou went on, "let me and my friends pass safely."

The plant nodded, and the vines cleared a path for the Fraggles. The Fraggle Five ran off immediately, but Lou stayed behind for a minute.

"One more thing," she said. "From now on, you won't breathe anymore fire, and you won't eat anymore Fraggles. You're going to be a nice plant, and only eat bad bugs that try to hurt plants, okay?"

The plant nodded in agreement, and waved to the Fraggles as they ran off. Then it yawned, and sunk itself into it's vines to get some sleep.

"Wow, Lou! That was amazing!" Wembley shouted. "I'm sure glad I'm not the Chosen Fraggle! I wouldn't know the first thing to do in a situation like this!"

"You wouldn't know the first thing to do in _any_ situation, Wembley!" Red shouted.

"Come on, you guys, knock it off, eh?" Gobo said. "We have to keep moving!"

"How come?" Red asked, sitting down on a rock. "Can't we take a break or something? My feet are killing me!"

"It's not safe to hang around here," Gobo said.

"But Lou's unlocked the plant power," Mokey said. "It _is_ safe to hang around here. They're our friends now. Besides, it's so calm and peaceful here."

"I know, Mokey," Gobo said. "But I think we're still too close to Narcissa's castle. Who's to say they aren't going to fix their drawbridge?"

"I agree with Gobo," Boober said. "And I think the best place we can go that will be far enough away from here is Fraggle Rock!"

"I know, Boober, but I can't go all the way back there yet," Lou said. "I already told you . . . ."

"I know, I know," Boober groaned. "You can't go back to Fraggle Rock until you've defeated Narcissa."

"Come on, guys," Gobo said. "We have to keep moving!"

Red and Boober groaned, but they followed Gobo anyway.

Narcissa saw everything in her mirror, and she wasn't pleased with the turn of events.

"That little furball!" she shouted. "She's more resourceful than I thought. Only three more powers to unlock, and at the rate she's going, she'll get them all by sundown."

Narcissa continued to watch the Fraggles. Then she smiled when she saw where they were headed.

"The Rockslide Cliffs," she said. "They'll never get out of there alive. I'll see to that!"

Narcissa waved her hand over her mirror, and began laughing evilly.

The Fraggles walked along a rough, rocky path. It looked like a dried up river.

"How much farther do you think we have to go, Gobo?" Mokey asked.

"As far as we can without leaving the general area," Gobo said. "I want to put some distance between us and Narcissa's castle before we plan our next move. Come on, everybody!"

"Come on, he says," Boober muttered. "Ouch! Oooh, my feet are _killing_ me! Especially after walking on these rocks!"

"No wonder your Uncle Matt wears those boots," Red groaned. "Walking on trails like this is murder on the feet!"

"It was the only path on the road," Gobo said, shrugging.

"Come on, you guys," Lou said. "I know it's a pain, but it's for the best."

The others had to agree with that, and they kept going. A little while later, they came across two high cliffs, on either side of them.

"I'd hate to be at the top of these," Red said, looking up.

"I'm not so happy with being at the bottom," Boober said.

"Keep your voices down, everybody," Gobo said, quietly. "I don't want to accidentally start an avalanche."

"Avalanche?!" Boober shouted. Wembley, Mokey, Red, and Lou dove on him, and covered his mouth with their hands.

" _Ssshhhh_!" they hissed.

"The rocks up there aren't very stable," Gobo explained. "One wrong move, and we're gonna be buried."

Unfortunately for our Fraggles, Narcissa was still watching them through her mirror. She smiled evilly, and waved her hand across it.

"This ought to take care of you and your little friends, Louise Fraggle!" she shouted. "And then the amulet will be mine!"

The Fraggles continued walking along, until Gobo began to get a funny feeling in his stomach. He looked up, and saw some small rocks beginning to fall. He and the others also began to hear some rumbling.

"Oh no . . . ." he groaned.

"Don't tell me, Gobo," Red said. "Let me guess."

"AVALANCHE!" the six Fraggles yelled, and they began running as fast as they could.

The rocks were falling almost as fast as the Fraggles could run. Lou was pushing the stones on the amulet, trying to unlock the earth power. She figured that applied to rocks. As she was fiddling with it, she stopped for a second.

"I can't run and work this thing at the same time," she grumbled. "My fingers keep slipping."

"Lou! Don't stop!" Red shouted. "Keep running!"

Unfortunately, Lou couldn't hear her over the sound of rumbling rocks. She didn't even notice she was standing in the direct path of a rockslide. Thankfully, Gobo did.

"Lou, move out of the way!" he shouted, grabbing Lou's arm, and practically throwing her out of the way of the falling rocks.

Unfortunately, there was no time for Gobo to get away from the rockslide, and he wound up buried underneath a pile of rocks.

"GOBO!" both Red and Wembley shrieked in unison.

"We've gotta get him out of there!" Wembley shouted, and he ran for the top of the rock pile, trying to push rocks out of the way.

"Wembley, that's not going to do any good!" Red shouted.

"Yeah, Gobo will suffocate under there before we can reach him if we take it one rock at a time," Boober said.

"You're not helping, Boober!" Red shouted, glaring at the pessimistic Fraggle.

"Well we can't just stand here and do nothing!" Wembley shouted.

"I'm working on it," Lou said, pushing the stones on the amulet. "If I could just figure this out . . . ."

Lou pushed the orange stone, and, finally, the note held. An orange light came from the center of the amulet, and hit the pile of rocks. One at a time, the rocks began to roll out of the way, lining up the sides of the chasm, single file. Gobo groaned, and stood up.

"Gobo, are you all right?" Red asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Gobo said, brushing himself off. "Now _that's_ what I call rock and roll!"

"Sorry, Gobo," Lou said. "I shouldn't have stopped like that."

"It's okay, Lou," Gobo said. "I know you want to focus on unlocking that amulet. And the good news is you only have two more to go."

"Yeah, purple for lightning," Red said, "and pink for . . . . something else."

"I wish I knew what it was for," Lou said. "Then maybe it would give us an idea how to unlock it."

"Let's forget about unlocking it for right now," Boober said. "I want to get out of this chasm before we have another rockslide!"

"Good idea," Gobo said, and he and the other five Fraggles ran off.

By this time, Narcissa was ready to pop a vein. She clenched her fists so hard, her knuckles turned white. Her face turned red, and she gnashed her teeth. Steam was about ready to come out her ears.

"Those Fraggles are driving me _crazy_!" she shouted.

"If I may, your ladyship," the leader of the goblins said, "maybe you would like some of us to go out there and just take the amulet from the Chosen One by force? You know, just go out there and yank it off her neck?"

"After you let her escape?!" Narcissa yelled. "Not to mention bringing me the _wrong_ Fraggle in the first place?!"

"But you ordered us to bring you the green Fraggle," another goblin pointed out. "Not the purple one."

"How _dare_ you contradict me!" Narcissa yelled. She snapped her fingers, and a door opened below the goblin's feet.

"Yaaahhh!" he shouted, and he wound up landing directly into the moat.

 _SPLASH!_

The goblin leader cringed, as he heard his comrade's screams mixed with the rapid chomping of the bananacudas. Narcissa heaved an exasperated sigh, and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I've got a headache _this_ big," she said, holding her hands apart, "and it's got Fraggles written all over it. But that's not a bad idea, just going up to the little hairball, and yanking the darn thing off her neck."

"Then, you'll allow me and my men to go out and secure the amulet for milady?" the leader asked.

"No! Not after you and your idiot troops botched it up the first time! They're headed for the top of the Rockslide Cliffs now. I'll just get the trolls that live there to handle the job."

Narcissa went to her throne, and picked up a hand mirror. She used this one to send messages to the creatures that lived in her little kingdom.

"Hello, trolls?" she said. "This is Narcissa, and I have a job for you."


	8. Troll Bridge

The Fraggles were making their way up one of the cliffs, thanks to a path Gobo had found. Even though they were tired, they had to keep moving. Wembley was having a little trouble keeping up with his friends, however. He had been awake all through the night before, too scared of the goblins and the bananacudas to get any sleep. Fatigue was beginning to catch up with him. When they reached the top of the cliff, he finally collapsed, flat on his stomach.

"Wembley!" Lou shouted. "Hey, you guys, wait a minute!"

The other Fraggles stopped, and ran back to where Wembley had fallen, all talking at once.

"What's wrong, Wembley?" Mokey asked, as she and Lou helped the little green Fraggle up.

"I gotta stop," Wembley moaned. "I'm so tired, I don't think I can take another step!"

"You do look exhausted," Lou said. "Gobo, I really think we ought to stop and rest for awhile, at least for Wembley's sake."

"Yeah, I don't think he's going to last if we keep going at the pace you've got us going," Mokey said.

"Well . . . ." Gobo said, thinking it over.

"Come on, Gobo!" Red shouted. "We're _all_ tired! We've been walking around all day!"

"Yeah, even my blisters' blisters have blisters!" Boober shouted. "The next thing that'll happen, they'll break open, and globs of pus will drain out, and then my feet will swell up, and then they'll get infected, and I'll never be able to walk again!"

"Ew, gross!" Red shouted, cringing.

"Okay, okay," Gobo said. "We'll take a break."

Red, Boober, Mokey, Wembley, and Lou heaved gigantic sighs of relief, and sat down.

"Don't you ever take rest breaks when you're out exploring?" Red asked, massaging her foot.

"Only when I'm not being pursued by an evil sorceress," Gobo said, shrugging.

"I just had a thought," Boober said, looking up at the sky.

"Uh oh, here it comes," Red muttered under her breath.

"It's going to be sunset soon," Boober continued. "Where are we going to sleep? It's too dangerous to sleep up here at the top of this cliff. Not to mention too uncomfortable."

"I'm so tired, I could sleep on anything," Wembley said, stifling a yawn. Unable to keep his eyes open any longer, he almost immediately fell asleep the minute he laid down.

"Poor little guy," Gobo said. "He really _was_ exhausted, wasn't he?"

"He may be able to sleep here, but I know I can't," Red said.

"Neither can the rest of us," Gobo said. "But I'm sure we'll find a place to set up camp soon. Let's get going."

Gobo managed to get Wembley onto his back and shoulders, and carried him piggyback style. Red groaned, but she kept moving, anyway. Gobo walked to the edge of the cliff to see if he could see Narcissa's castle from there, when he heard growling.

"Red, keep your stomach quiet, eh?" he said. "I'm trying to concentrate! We'll eat just as soon as we find a place to camp."

"That wasn't my stomach," Red said. "I thought it was yours!"

"Well, it wasn't mine," Gobo said.

"It wasn't mine, either," Mokey said.

"Or mine," Lou said.

"Don't look at me," Boober said. "I'm too nervous to be hungry!"

"Maybe it was Wembley's," Mokey said.

"Somehow, I don't think so . . . ." Boober said, nervously.

The five Fraggles turned around, and saw a cave in the distance. Inside the cave were four pairs of glowing yellow eyes, that seemed to be getting closer to them. They belonged to four trolls, with brown fur, scraggly black hair, giant red noses, and long tails.

"What have we here?" the ugliest troll asked. "Looks like the makings of Fraggle Soup!"

"Run!" Gobo shouted.

"Good idea!" Boober shouted.

The Fraggles took off running as fast as they could, in different directions. The trolls didn't bother going after them all. After all, they were under strict orders from Narcissa to get the amulet, so all four of them began to chase after Lou. Two of them snuck up behind her, and grabbed her by the arms.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Let go of me!"

"We'll let you go, my pretty," the leader of the trolls said. "As soon as we get the Rainbow Amulet for Narcissa!"

"I should've known that's what this is about," Lou groaned.

The leader of the trolls laughed evilly, and tried to yank the amulet right off of Lou's neck, but the minute he touched it, he got a shock in the hand.

"Yeeeee _ooooowwww_!" he screeched, and finally let go of it.

"What the?" Lou asked. "How in the world did _that_ happen? I haven't unlocked lightning yet!"

Narcissa was watching the action through her mirror. When she saw the amulet shock the troll once he touched it, she smacked her hand to her forehead.

"Ooooooh!" she groaned. "I forgot! Once the powers become unlocked, only the Chosen One can touch the amulet!"

"Isn't there an alternative?" the head goblin asked.

"Yes, actually," Narcissa said, and she smiled evilly. "If something unfortunate should happen to her, then she won't be able to use the amulet. Calling all trolls, come in, trolls!"

"Yes, Narcissa?" the leader of the trolls said, pulling what appeared to be a small crystal ball out from under his fur.

"I saw what happened," Narcissa said. "I forgot that the amulet won't allow anyone but the Chosen One to touch it once she's started to unlock the powers, as long as she's still alive."

"I _really_ don't like the sound of that," Lou said.

"So what do you want us to do?" the troll leader asked.

"Toss her over the cliff!" Narcissa shouted, and she signed out with an evil laugh.

"You heard her, boys!" the troll leader shouted. "Over the cliff with her!"

The trolls laughed, and dragged the lavender Fraggle to the edge of the cliff. Lou struggled, and tried desperately to reach the amulet, but she just couldn't.

"Stop, you beasts!" Mokey shouted.

"Don't even think about it!" Red shouted.

"I'd better go help them," Gobo said, sliding the sleeping Wembley off his back. "Boober, stay here and keep an eye on Wembley."

"My pleasure!" Boober shouted.

"Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-taaaaahhh!" Gobo shouted, imitating a trumpet. " _Charrrrrge_!"

Gobo ran forward, and plowed right into the one of the trolls holding Lou, jabbing his elbow into his stomach. Red and Mokey ran into the other one, kicking him in his shins. They both let go of Lou immediately. Lou was about to use the amulet on them, but before she could, the leader grabbed her by the arms.

"Oh no you don't, little missy!" he shouted.

"Let me go, you big lummox!" Lou shouted.

"I don't think so. Men, you take care of those three Fraggles! I'll take care of this one."

"Right, boss!" the other three trolls shouted.

"Uh oh," Gobo said.

"RUN!" Red screamed, and she, Mokey, and Gobo took off, with the three trolls right behind them.

"But what about Lou?" Gobo asked.

"It's okay," Mokey said. "Wembley and Boober will help us."

"In that case, we're all doomed," Red said.

Boober and Wembley were behind a rock nearby. Wembley was still asleep, and Boober wasn't about to come out for anything. However, all the yelling going on woke Wembley up.

"What's going on?" he asked, drowsily.

"Errr, nothing, nothing at all," Boober said. He didn't want Wembley to go racing head first into danger. That would mean _he'd_ have to go out and fight as well. "Nothing Gobo and the girls can't handle."

"Huh?" Wembley asked. He peered out from behind the rock, and saw Gobo, Red, and Mokey trying to fight off three trolls, and Lou in the clutches of the ugliest troll he had ever seen in his life. He also noticed that this troll was forcing Lou to the edge of the cliff.

"Off you go, my little pretty!" the troll shouted, and then cackled madly.

Wembley was practically seeing red at this point. He clenched his fists, gnashed his teeth, growled, and then ran at the troll at full speed.

"Wembley!" Boober shouted. "Don't go out there! It's too dangerous!"

Wembley didn't pay any attention to Boober. He was angry now, and an angry Fraggle was capable of anything, and Boober knew it! He ran directly for the troll, picked up his tail, and yanked it as hard as he possibly could, almost pulling it right out.

"Get your hands off her, you overgrown throw rug!" he shouted.

"Yow!" the troll shouted, letting go of Lou. She wound up losing her balance, and started to fall over the side of the cliff.

"Oh no!" she yelled.

"Gotcha!" Wembley shouted, grabbing her hand at the last possible second. He pulled her back onto the cliff, and the two of them backed away from the edge as fast as they could.

"Are you okay, Lou?" Wembley asked.

"I am now," Lou said, leaning over and kissing Wembley's cheek. "Thanks to you."

"Aw, gee . . . ." Wembley said, starting to blush. Unfortunately, he was snapped out of it almost immediately, when the troll grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar.

"You little pipsqueak!" he shouted. "You ain't worth my time!"

"Whoooaaaaa!" Wembley shouted, as the troll flung him aside. He wound up hitting the rock Boober was hiding behind, headfirst.

 _WHAM!_

"Wembley!" Lou shouted.

"Hey, Wembley, you okay?" Boober asked.

"One radish burger, medium rare," Wembley replied, dazedly. Then he let out a moan, and dropped, completely unconscious.

"Great, he's out cold," Boober groaned. "Better use the amulet on those trolls, Lou! Hurry!"

"Okay, I'll try to unlock lightning!" Lou shouted. The troll growled, and began coming toward the lavender Fraggle. Lou immediately began pushing the stones on the amulet, ending with the purple one, trying to unlock it's power, but none of the combinations were working. However, something unexpected happened. As Lou was trying to unlock lightning, the troll stopped coming at her. The other three trolls stopped chasing Gobo, Red, and Mokey, and they appeared to have relaxed, somewhat dopey expressions on their faces.

"Do you guys see what I see?" Gobo asked.

"Yeah," Red said. "I think they like the music."

"That's not so surprising," Mokey said. "It's been said that music soothes the savage beast, after all."

"And you can't get much more savage than these guys!" Red shouted.

"I have an idea on how to get rid of them," Lou said. She, Red, Mokey, and Gobo huddled, and began talking. Then the four of them nodded, and lined up. Lou took the amulet, played some music on it, and began singing.

 _I am a fine musician,_

 _I practice every day_

 _And people come from miles around_

 _Just to hear me play_

 _My trumpet, my trumpet_

 _They love to hear my trumpet._

 _Ta-tada-ta-ta, ta-tada-ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-a-a_

 _Gobo: I am a fine musician,_

 _And I get lots of pay_

 _'Cause people throw me pennies_

 _When they hear me play_

 _My tuba, my tuba_

 _They love to hear my tuba_

 _Oom-pa, oom-pa oom-pa oom-pa, oom-pa-oom_

 _Lou: Ta-tada-ta-ta, ta-tada-ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-a-a_

 _Red: I am a fine musician,_

 _My music is so gay,_

 _And everybody dances,_

 _When they hear me play,_

 _My trombone, my trombone,_

 _They love to hear my trombone._

 _Dah, daah, da-da-daah, da-da-da-da-da-da-daaah_

 _Gobo: Oom-pa, oom-pa oom-pa oom-pa, omp-pa, omp-pa, oom-pa-oom_

 _Lou: Ta-tada-ta-ta, ta-tada-ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-a-a!_

 _Mokey: I am a fine musician,_

 _That's what the people say,_

 _And all the children follow me,_

 _When they hear me play,_

 _My piccolo, my piccolo,_

 _They love to hear my piccolo._

 _Deedle-ee dee dee,_

 _Deedle-ee dee dee,_

 _Deedle deedle dee-dee deedle-deedle dee_

 _Red: Dah, daah, da-da-daah, da-da-da-da-da-da-daaah_

 _Gobo: Oom-pa, oom-pa oom-pa oom-pa, omp-pa, omp-pa, oom-pa-oom_

 _Lou: Ta-tada-ta-ta, ta-tada-ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-a-a!_

 _All Four: We all are fine musicians,_

 _We practice every day,_

 _And if you'd like to join us,_

 _We'll show you the way._

 _Come join us. Come join us._

 _Come take a part and join us_

 _Lou: Ta-tada-ta-ta, ta-tada-ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-a-a_

 _Gobo: Oom-pa, oom-pa oom-pa oom-pa, omp-pa, omp-pa, oom-pa-oom_

 _Red: Dah, daah, da-da-daah, da-da-da-da-da-da-daaah_

 _Mokey: Deedle-ee dee dee, Deedle deedle dee-dee deedle-deedle dee_

 _Dee deedle deedle dee!_

While the four Fraggles sang, they marched around, and the trolls followed them.

"I don't believe this," Boober said.

Lou led the group to the edge of the cliff, but turned sharply just as she got there. Gobo, Red, and Mokey did the same thing, but the trolls kept going straight ahead, until they walked right off the cliff. They didn't even notice.

"I can't look!" Red shouted covering her eyes as the trolls fell.

 _CRASH!_

"It's okay, Red, you can look now," Gobo said. "The crash didn't hurt them. Though I'm kind of surprised, because if we fell from this height, it'd kill us!"

"I guess there's some truth in that old saying," Mokey said.

"What old saying?" Red asked.

"Ignorance is bliss," Mokey said, shrugging. "By the way, Gobo, what are pennies?"

"I dunno," Gobo shrugged. "Uncle Matt said Silly Creatures throw them in fountains."

"Sounds silly to me," Mokey said, shrugging.

"Ummm, I hate to be a party pooper," Boober said, "but we've got an injured Fraggle over here."

"I almost forgot!" Lou shouted, and she immediately ran over to Boober, and an unconscious Wembley, with Red, Mokey, and Gobo right behind her.

"Oh, poor Wembley!" Mokey shouted.

"Is he okay, Boober?" Red asked.

"It's probably a concussion," Boober said, as Gobo and Lou looked Wembley over. "Or possibly a skull fracture. This could also lead to swelling in the brain, and then he'll start hemorrhaging up there, or worse yet, be paralyzed for life."

"Boober, he just got knocked out when that troll threw him against the rock!" Lou shouted.

"Yeah, I don't see anything too serious here," Gobo said. "Just a bump on the head is all. Come on, we'd better keep moving. If those trolls were working for Narcissa, who knows what other surprises she might have for us!"

Gobo carefully picked up Wembley, and carried him down the path, with the others following him. If Narcissa wasn't pleased with the turn of events before, she was positively furious now.

"What is it going to take to get rid of that Fraggle?!" she shouted, throwing her hand mirror across the room. "It'll take me _years_ before I get that amulet at this rate!"

"Are you sure you have to kill her, your evilness?" the head goblin asked.

"At this point, I'm ready to rip that Fraggle to shreds with my bare hands!" Narcissa shouted. "If I ever get my hands on her that is!"

Narcissa stood up, and stormed over to her large mirror and waved her hands in front of it. By this point, the Fraggles had found a secluded area to camp out. Lou had used the red stone to start a camp fire, as well as the green stone to find some food. She was still playing with the amulet's stones, trying to unlock the last two powers.

"I don't think you'll have to do any more of that tonight, Lou," Gobo said. "We're far enough away from Narcissa's castle."

"I know," Lou said. "But I want to be prepared just in case Narcissa's got minions lurking around."

"And she may have them lurking around every corner, too," Boober said, shaking nervously. "I knew I should have stayed home!"

The others groaned, and decided to ignore Boober. Lou stopped playing with the amulet, and walked over to Mokey, who was applying a moss pack to Wembley's head.

"You think he'll be okay?" she asked.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Mokey said.

Wembley groaned then, and began to sit up, opening his eyes about halfway.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"There, you see?" Mokey asked. "He's starting to come out of it already. Are you okay, Wembley?"

"Yeah, I think so," Wembley said. Then he groaned. "Ooooh! Except for a headache!"

"Getting thrown head first into a rock will do that to you," Boober said.

"Yeah," Wembley said. Then he groaned again.

"How'd you get thrown into that rock, anyway, Wembley?" Red asked.

"You mean you didn't see it?" Wembley asked.

"We were too busy with the trolls," Gobo said. "We didn't even know you woke up!"

"Oh," Wembley said. "Well, I saw this really ugly troll about to throw Lou off the cliff, and something just snapped."

"Yeah, he rushed the troll and nearly pulled his tail out by the roots," Boober said. "Which was a really stupid thing to do, Wembley! Don't you realize you could've gotten yourself killed doing that?!"

"I had to do it," Wembley said. "I couldn't let Lou get hurt. She couldn't reach the amulet."

"I've never seen Wembley get that mad before in my life," Boober said. "Not even when we thought the Hairy Monster from Outer Space ate Gobo."

"Yeah, but I guess I didn't do so well after all," Wembley said. "Next thing I knew, the troll threw me, and then, WHAM!"

"It's so nice to see that chivalry isn't dead after all," Mokey sighed.

"It's just been in a coma," Red said. "I really hope we're safe out here, Gobo."

"We should be," Gobo said. "I know the stakes are really high at this point."

"Which is why we should go back to Fraggle Rock right now!" Boober shouted. "We should forget this whole Chosen One thing, lose that amulet, and go home where we'll all safe and sound!"

"I can't lose the amulet, Boober!" Lou shouted. "If I do, Narcissa will get it, and she'll take over the universe with it! If you want to go back to Fraggle Rock, it's fine. Really, I think you should _all_ go back to Fraggle Rock, it'll be much safer for you. After all, she _is_ out to kill me for it."

"All the more reason for us to stay with you," Red said.

"But I don't want you guys to get hurt!" Lou shouted.

"And we don't want _you_ to get hurt," Wembley said, grabbing Lou's hand. "Me, especially. I'll do anything I can to protect you, Lou. I know you think it's safer back at Fraggle Rock, but I just can't go back there knowing you're in trouble. You can't do this alone. Let us help you."

Lou looked at Wembley, and smiled. Then she pulled him into her arms and gave him the biggest hug she could muster.

"Wembley," she said, "you're the best friend a Fraggle could ever have."

Narcissa made a face as she watched the Fraggles. All the sentiment made her feel sick to her stomach.

"Yeeccchhh!" she shouted. "How re _volt_ ing! I hate sentimental slop like this!"

"You know what?" the head goblin asked. "The Chosen One seems very fond of that little green Fraggle, doesn't she?"

"Yes, she does," Narcissa said, thoughtfully. Then she walked into another room, and pulled a book off the shelf.

"Begging your pardon, your loveliness," the head goblin said, "but what are you doing?"

"I'm looking up the Rainbow Amulet again," Narcissa said. "Now that I think about it, there might be another alternative into getting it. Ah, yes, here it is. Once the powers have been unlocked, the Chosen One will be the only one to be able to use it. No one may take it from her, unless she is killed, or she gives it up willingly. That's it! That's _it_!"

"What's it? I don't think she'll give it up willingly, your magical one."

"I know that, you idiot! Not unless we convince her."

"But we tried that before."

"Then we'll try it again! Except we'll raise the stakes. I know her _exact_ weakness now."

Narcissa pulled a whistle out of her pocket, and blew it. Several of her nightflyers flew into the room.

"Listen to me, my pretties," she said. "Go out and find those Fraggles. Bring me the little green one. If she came after him before, she'll come after him again."

The nightflyers screeched, and flew off. Narcissa rubbed her hands together, evilly.

"You sure about this, your sorceress-ness?" the goblin asked.

"Positive," Narcissa said. "All we have to do now is sit back, and wait."

* * *

 _AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have absolutely no idea the origin of the song I used in this chapter, since I saw it on both "Sesame Street" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show." So your guess is as good as mine._


	9. No More Miss Nice Sorceress

The Fraggles were about ready to turn in for the night when the nightflyers found them. They weren't even aware of the creatures. The head of the flock signaled the others, and swooped down, right above their heads.

"What the heck was that?!" Gobo shouted, looking up.

"I don't know, but here it comes again!" Red shouted. "Duck!"

The six Fraggles ducked, as the nightflyer swooped overhead once more, and kept coming right at them.

"I think it's a tree creature," Mokey said. "But I don't know what in the world it's doing!"

"It's probably looking for dinner," Boober said, diving to the ground and covering his head with his hands. "And we're dinner!"

"If that were the case, Boober, it would just grab us by now!" Red shouted.

Those were the magic words. The head nightflyer nodded to two others, and they took off, swooping at the Fraggles once more. Only this time, on their way back up, the two other nightflyers snatched Wembley by the arms, and took off with him.

"Help!" Wembley shouted, as he was lifted off the ground.

"Oh no!" Mokey shouted.

"Red, when are you ever gonna learn to keep your big mouth shut?!" Gobo shouted.

"Poor Wembley!" Boober moaned. "He's doomed!"

Gobo, Red, and Lou ignored Boober, and chased after the nightflyers. They were too high for the Fraggles to try to reach Wembley.

"Maybe a little fire will settle those tree creatures' hash!" Red shouted. "Fricassee their tail feathers, Lou!"

"I can't," Lou said. "The fire power is too big for this! I might accidentally hit Wembley while I'm aiming for those things!"

"They're too high for the plant or earth powers to work effectively," Gobo said. "And if you create a windstorm with the air power, you might accidentally blow them to Narcissa's castle. They're working for her, I'm sure of it!"

"If they're working for Narcissa, then they must be color blind," Red said.

"I just need to unlock lightning," Lou said, pressing the stones on the amulet. "That might work!"

"Maybe you should wait until they land," Red said. "Wembley's up so high, he might get killed if he falls from that height."

"I know what I'm doing, Red," Lou said. Finally, the purple note held, and the center of the amulet opened.

Bolts of purple lightning shot out of the amulet, and hit the nightflyers right in the tail feathers. They squawked loudly, and immediately let go of Wembley, causing him to plummet.

"Heeeeeelllllllp!" the green Fraggle yelled.

"Wembley!" Red shouted, horrified.

Lou then pushed the blue stone, and created a large gust of wind that caught Wembley about halfway between the sky and the ground.

"Get under him, Gobo!" Lou said. "I'll try to bring him down easy!"

"Right!" Gobo shouted.

Lou used the amulet to guide Wembley down to the ground. Once he was close enough, she deactivated the amulet, and let Wembley fall, but Gobo managed to catch him so he didn't get hurt.

"Whew!" he breathed. "Thanks, Gobo. Thanks, Lou."

"Don't thank them, yet!" Red shouted. "They're coming back!"

Lou immediately pushed the purple stone again, and fired several bolts of lightning at the nightflyers. One bolt zapped all the feathers off one of them completely. He squawked, and flapped off immediately. The leader of the nightflyers swooped down, and managed to grab Wembley again, while Lou's attention was focused on the others.

"Aaaahhh!" Wembley shouted.

"Oh no you don't!" Gobo shouted, as he and Red grabbed Wembley's legs, and struggled to keep him on the ground.

"Hang on, you guys!" Lou shouted, and she blasted the nightflyer with the biggest bolt of lightning yet. The nightflyer screeched, and flew off, letting go of Wembley immediately. The others retreated as well.

"Wow!" Gobo shouted, standing up. "Those were some of the ugliest tree creatures I've ever seen!"

"So what else is new around here?" Red asked.

"Are you okay, Wembley?" Lou asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Wembley said. "Thanks a lot, Lou."

"Come on," Gobo said. "We'd better head back to the camp site before Boober and Mokey start to worry about us."

The four Fraggles went back to their campsite, discussing whether or not one of them should stand watch for awhile, just in case Narcissa sent more of her goons to do her dirty work for her. Narcissa wasn't pleased.

"Morons!" she shouted. "I'm surrounded by morons! Can't any of my minions do anything right?! Ugh! If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself!"

Narcissa waved her hand over her head, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. She reappeared close to the Fraggles' campsite, but far enough away so they didn't see her. She snapped her fingers, and a burlap sack appeared in her hand. Then she began to sneak up on the Fraggles.

"Maybe we should take turns standing watch," Mokey said. "After that last attack, I'm not so sure it's safe if we all go to sleep."

"My sentiments exactly!" Boober shouted.

"I don't think _any_ of us is gonna get any sleep after what happened with those tree creatures," Gobo said.

"Yeah, they were kinda scary, huh?" Wembley said.

"Scary isn't the word," Boober said. "They were downright terrifying! I won't be able to sleep tonight thinking about those things!"

"Yeah, and I'll be up all night wondering something," Gobo said.

"What's that?" Red asked.

"What Narcissa's got planned up her sleeve next," Gobo said.

"How about this, my fine, furry, Fraggles!" Narcissa shouted, coming into view.

"Yeee-iiiiiiikes!" Boober shouted, and he dove behind a nearby tree for cover.

"And you said _I_ have a big mouth!" Red shouted.

"Stand back, Narcissa!" Lou shouted, holding up the amulet. "I know how to use this!"

"And _I_ know how to use _this_!" Narcissa shouted. She waved her hand, and a beam of magic flew out, hitting Lou in the chest, and knocking her backwards, right into Gobo, Red, and Mokey. The four of them were pushed back, and fell to the ground, like bowling pins.

"Oh no!" Wembley shouted. Before he could do anything, Narcissa threw her sack over the little green Fraggle, and tied it shut.

"Gotcha!" she shouted.

"Hey!" Gobo shouted, once he and the others got their wits back. "Let Wembley go, you witch!"

"I don't think so," Narcissa said. "He's coming with me!"

"We'll just see about that!" Lou shouted, and she pressed the yellow stone on the amulet. A beam of light shot out. Narcissa held up her hand, and the light beam seamed to bounce off it, and sent it right back at the Fraggles, practically blinding them. They couldn't see a thing after that.

"I'm through playing around, Louise," Narcissa said. "I'll give you one last chance to surrender. If I don't get that amulet by tomorrow, you'll never see your little friend again!"

Narcissa let out an evil cackle, waved her hand once more, and she disappeared in a puff of smoke, along with Wembley. The Fraggles' vision cleared just in time to see her disappear.

"I don't believe it," Lou said. "I just don't believe it! I can't believe she just took Wembley right out from under us like that!"

"And threatening him to get you to do what she wants you to do, as well," Mokey said.

"Yeah, how evil can you get?" Red asked.

"What are we gonna do now?" Boober asked.

"I . . . . I don't . . . ." Lou stammered. "I just . . . . I can't even . . . ."

Lou stammered a little more, and then practically collapsed, falling over backwards. Mokey and Gobo caught her before she could hit the ground, but at least she was still conscious. She was just extremely dizzy and disoriented. Immediately, Gobo and Mokey guided her to a nearby tree, and helped her sit down before she could completely faint.

"Here, sit down Lou," Mokey said.

"Yeah, take a deep breath, and relax," Gobo said.

"How can I relax?!" Lou shouted, jumping to her feet. "That witch took Wembley, and I practically let her! He was willing to protect me . . . . and I couldn't even protect him!"

"It's not your fault, Lou," Gobo said. "It just happened so fast, nobody had time to do anything!"

"Not to mention she used the light power against us," Mokey said. "Nobody could have seen that coming."

"I should have used the amulet the minute I saw her," Lou said. "The minute she showed up! Then maybe Wembley would be all right now! I know what I have to do."

"What's that?" Gobo asked.

"I have to surrender the amulet," Lou said.

"What?!" the others shouted in perfect unison, and then they all began talking at once.

"I have to," Lou said, not even looking at her friends.

"If you do, it's the end of the universe as we know it!" Boober shouted.

"If I don't, who knows what she's going to do to Wembley!" Lou argued. "I can't let him get hurt because of me!"

"You mean you'd let the entire universe be destroyed?" Boober asked.

"Boober, I don't know what else to do!" Lou shouted, looking like she was about ready to burst into tears.

"You can take that amulet and give her a good jolt of lightning with it!" Red shouted. "Use it to kick her tail, for crying out loud!"

"Red, calm down," Mokey said.

"Well, she shouldn't just give up so easily!" Red shouted.

"But she's only giving it up so Wembley won't get hurt," Mokey said.

"Well, that shouldn't matter!" Boober shouted. "She can't give up the amulet for just one Fraggle! The whole universe is at stake, and all she's worried about is just _one_ Fraggle!"

"Yeah, but this ' _one_ Fraggle' happens to be special to her, Boober!" Gobo shouted. "I'd probably surrender the amulet too if I were in Lou's shoes."

"But Lou doesn't wear shoes," Boober said.

"Gobo, I think you've flipped," Red said. "She's giving up too easily! She should use that stupid thing to give that witch what she deserves!"

"Wembley happens to be my best friend, Red!" Gobo shouted. "How would _you_ feel if _you_ were the Chosen One, and Narcissa went and kidnapped Mokey?"

"I wouldn't give up the amulet, that's for sure!" Red shouted. "I'd use it to save Mokey, that's what I'd do! Why doesn't Lou do that?!"

The four Fraggles all began shouting at once. It was driving Lou absolutely crazy, and she couldn't think with them all going on like they were. Finally, she covered her ears, and let out a shriek so loud, it could have shattered glass. That got the others' attention, and they immediately stopped arguing.

" _STOP IT!_ " Lou hollered. "All of you, please! Just stop it, already! The situation is bad enough as it is, do you have to fight about it, too?!"

"But, Lou, we just don't think you ought to give her the amulet," Boober said.

"I know, I know," Lou said. "I don't _want_ to, but I don't want her to hurt Wembley, either. I just don't know what I should do. I just . . . . I need a minute to sort this out."

"Well, if it were me . . . ." Red started. Gobo put his hand on her shoulder to stop her before she went on.

"Leave her alone, Red," he said. "She needs some time to herself, and she _doesn't_ need a lecture! She feels bad enough as it is!"

Red was about to protest, but then she got a good look at Lou. She looked like she was going to have a nervous breakdown. Then Red remembered what Gobo had said a minute ago, about if she were the Chosen One, and if Narcissa had kidnapped Mokey to get the amulet. She remembered about the time she and Mokey went camping and encountered the Cave Fraggles, who captured Mokey and locked her in a cage. She was so worried about her, all she could think about was rescuing her. She wondered if that was what Lou was thinking. She heaved a sigh, and walked over to her.

"Lou," she said, "I'm sorry I got a little crazy about this whole thing. I just thought that, well, since you unlocked the powers in the amulet, nothing could stop you."

"I know," Lou said. "I thought that, too. But I think I know the problem. I'm afraid."

"Yeah, I understand. You're afraid of what she's going to do to Wembley, and that's why you think you should give up the amulet."

"No, Red, it's not just that! I'm afraid of Narcissa. She's just so intimidating!"

"You weren't afraid of her before."

"Yes I was! It may not have seemed like it, but I was."

"But Lou, you were tackling everything we met on this journey with ease! How can you tell me you're afraid?"

"Fear is easy to hide, Red."

Lou heaved a sigh, and began singing.

 _Why am I afraid to cry?_

 _And why am I so proud?_

 _I seem to fear,_

 _To show my tears._

 _And why am I afraid to cry?_

 _Afraid of fear?_

 _Afraid to be afraid?_

 _I know my friends would still be friends,_

 _If I should reach the end._

 _They'd hold me near,_

 _And dry my tears._

 _So why am I so petrified?_

 _Afraid of fear?_

 _Afraid to be afraid?_

"Yeah, I get it," Red said. "I guess us arguing over what to do isn't helping you at all, is it?"

"No, it isn't," Lou sighed. "I don't _want_ to give her the amulet and have her take over the universe, you understand that, right, Red?"

"Yeah."

"But I _can't_ let her hurt Wembley, either. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to him! Oh, Red, I just don't know what to do!"

Lou broke down in tears just then. She just couldn't hold it in any longer. Red put her arm around the lavender Fraggle's shoulders, and gave them a reassuring squeeze.

"Don't worry, Lou," she said. "We'll figure out something. We'll find a way to rescue Wembley. Somehow."

* * *

 _AUTHOR'S NOTE: The song is this chapter is from the "Fraggle Rock" episode "The Garden Plot."_


	10. Surrender

When Narcissa returned to her castle, she opened the sack, and practically dumped Wembley out on the floor. He landed flat on his stomach.

 _THUD!_

"Ooof!" he grunted. "Ugh . . . I think that trip was worse than the first one."

"Welcome back, little one," Narcissa said, straightening out her hair.

"What are you going to do with me now?" Wembley asked, nervously.

"I haven't quite decided yet," Narcissa said, sitting down in her throne. "I don't know how long it will take your friends to deliver my amulet, so we could be in for a bit of a wait."

"Lou won't surrender it!" Wembley shouted. "I know she won't! She won't let the whole universe be destroyed!"

"You really think so?"

"Yes! Well, maybe . . . . I mean . . . . I don't think she will . . . . unless she does . . . . but she probably won't!"

Narcissa groaned, and raised her hand. Wembley was levitated off the floor, and then thrown into the adjacent wall.

 _CRASH!_

"I hate dithering," Narcissa said. Then she snapped her fingers, and her goblins ran into the room.

"Yes, oh mighty queen of darkness?" the leader asked. Narcissa levitated an extremely dazed Wembley over to the goblins, and practically threw him into them.

"Take care of him, boys," she said. "Do what you like with him. Rough him up a little. However, I _am_ going to need him alive later, so don't kill him. Understand?"

"Yes, your mercilessness," the leader said.

"Oh goody, goody!" another goblin shouted, excitedly. Then he began singing. "We get to play in the torture chamber! We get to play in the torture chamber!"

"Torture chamber?" Wembley repeated. "No, please, no! Not that! Not a torture chamber! Please, no, anything but that!"

Narcissa just laughed evilly, as the goblins dragged Wembley out of the throne room. Wembley struggled against them, trying desperately to get away. His struggling did make it a bit hard for the goblins to handle him, so the leader walked over to the green Fraggle, and not only smacked him across the face, but belted him in the stomach as well, knocking the wind out of him.

"I don't think you'll be in a position for back-talking, little one," he said. "To the torture chamber with him!"

All the goblins cheered, and dragged Wembley to the torture chamber. Once they arrived, They chained Wembley to the wall by his wrists. Wembley looked around the room, and gulped. It looked just like a medieval torture chamber he had heard about in one of the Storyteller's tales. There was a rack, an iron maiden, and a giant axe tied to a pendulum, among other unpleasant looking things. Wembley gulped, and shivered in fear, wondering what these goblins had in store for him.

"Awwwww," one of the goblins said, in a patronizing voice. "Wook at da poor wittle itty bitty Fwaggle, afwaid of da big, bad gobwins!"

"Poor wittle baby!" another shouted, laughing.

"Don't worry, little one," the head goblin said. "We won't use any of these torture devices on you."

"That's good," Wembley said, heaving a sigh of relief.

"However," one of the other goblins said, smiling sneakily, "since she _did_ say to rough you up a little . . . ."

Without another word, the goblin delivered a punch to Wembley's face, and the other goblins followed suit. Wembley couldn't even fight back.

Meanwhile, the other Fraggles were making their way back to Narcissa's castle, by backtracking.

"I just hope we don't run into anything we ran into before," Boober said. "Especially since it's dark out here!"

"Don't start that again, Boober," Red said, rolling her eyes. "We've got enough problems as it is!"

"Besides, I doubt Narcissa's going to sic anything else on us at this point," Gobo said. "She probably figures if she does, she won't get the amulet. She'll be expecting us, I'm sure of it."

"We don't have any choice," Lou said.

"Right," Mokey said. "We can't leave Wembley in that castle with that evil Silly Creature."

"I don't know if the trick I used before will work again," Lou said. "She might be expecting something like that."

"Don't worry about it, Lou," Gobo said. "We'll figure out what to do when the time comes."

Lou nodded, absently. Her mind wasn't really on what she was going to do when she and her friends arrived at the castle. She was more concerned about Wembley, and what Narcissa was going to do to him if she didn't surrender.

After traveling all night, the five Fraggles arrived at the castle at sunrise. The drawbridge was up this time.

"Halt!" a voice inside shouted. "Who goes there?!"

"Nobody goes there!" Boober shouted. "We were just leaving! Bye!"

"Come back here!" Red shouted, as she grabbed Boober by his scarf to prevent him from taking off.

"We're here to see Narcissa!" Lou called to the guard at the drawbridge.

"You the Fraggle she's waiting for?"

"Yes!"

"One second!"

The Fraggles waited, while the drawbridge began to lower. Once it was completely down, they walked inside, and found the head goblin and some of his troops waiting for them.

"Follow us, please," he said. "Her royal ruthlessness has been waiting for you!"

"I don't like the sound of that particular term of endearment," Boober said.

"Neither do I," Mokey said.

The Fraggles followed the goblins into the throne room. Narcissa was sitting there calmly, looking in a hand mirror, and fixing her hair. She saw the Fraggles standing before her, and smiled.

"Well," she said, "it appears we have guests. How lovely for you and your friends to come visit me, Louise."

"Skip it," Lou said. "You and I both know what we're here for, so you can save the hypocrisy!"

"Very well, then. After our last meeting, I am now thoroughly convinced you're not as dumb as I initially thought you were. However, I refuse to allow my guard to be let down again. I can only assume you've decided to take my ultimatum seriously."

"I'm not about to hand over the amulet that easy, Narcissa!"

"I didn't think you were, my dear. Obviously, the fate of the universe is more important to you than your little friend is."

"I never said that. But since you brought up the subject, where is Wembley?"

"I'll be only too glad to show you."

Narcissa smiled evilly, and snapped her fingers. One of her goblins came forward, holding a chain. He laughed, and jerked it as hard as he could, yanking a badly beaten Wembley into the throne room. His arms were pinned to his sides by the chain, his hands were shackled behind his back, and his ankles were shackled as well. The goblin had yanked him into the room so hard, the green Fraggle fell to his knees. He barely had the strength to stand up.

"Wembley!" Gobo shouted. He was about to race to his best friend, but a group of goblins blocked him off. "What did you do to him?!"

"Well, if you _really_ want to know," Narcissa said, smiling sneakily. She turned to her goblin, and nodded.

"Heh, heh, heh," the goblin laughed under his breath, rubbing his hands in glee. He turned toward Wembley, and socked him in the jaw as hard as he could, knocking the little green Fraggle to the floor, and hard. Wembley could barely even lift his head after that punch. Gobo did not take kindly to this.

"Why, you . . . . you . . . ." he started to say. Then he turned to Narcissa and glared at her, sharply.

"If you weren't a girl, I'd belt you one!" he shouted.

"Let _me_ do it for you, Gobo!" Red shouted, rolling up her sleeve. "After all, I _am_ a girl!"

Red charged for the sorceress, ready to pound her into the pavement. Narcissa yawned, and snapped her fingers, levitating Red off the ground.

"Hey, what the heck?" Red asked.

Narcissa smiled sneakily again, and waved her hand, throwing Red back to the other Fraggles.

"Whooooooaaaaaa!" she shouted, and plowed into them, like a bowling ball. All five of them crashed to the ground.

"Give the little one another hit," Narcissa said to her goblin. "Just for his friend's audacity!"

"Yes, your most wickedness!" the goblin shouted. He jerked Wembley to his feet, and punched him in the stomach as hard as he could. Wembley crashed to the ground flat on his back, and moaned, having the wind knocked out of him completely.

"Come on, Fraggle, on your feet!" the goblin shouted.

"I . . . . don't think . . . . I can," Wembley moaned.

"I said on your feet!" the goblin shouted, giving Wembley a couple of kicks in his side.

"That's enough," Narcissa said. "Give him here."

"Yes, ma'am," the goblin said, handing Narcissa the chain.

"You get the general idea, don't you, Louise?" Narcissa said, pulling Wembley onto her lap. Wembley didn't even have the strength to struggle.

"All too clearly," Lou said, glaring at Narcissa.

"You've got a lot of nerve, Narcissa!" Gobo shouted.

"Yes, don't I?" Narcissa said, with an annoying smirk. "However, I know that beating the tar out of your little friend here isn't enough to convince you to give up the amulet, Louise. You could just use the fire or lightning power to break his chains, couldn't you?"

"So what's stopping me from doing it now?" Lou asked.

Lou held up the amulet, and was just about to push the red stone on it. Narcissa snapped her fingers, and a group of her goblins rushed in, and grabbed Lou by the arms before she had the chance. Narcissa laughed sneakily, and snapped her fingers again, this time conjuring up a dagger. Then she held the dagger to Wembley's neck.

"I'm sure you wouldn't want any more harm to come to your little friend," she said. "So either you give me the Rainbow Amulet, or I'll cut his little green throat!"

"No, Lou!" Wembley shouted. "Don't give it to her! Don't do it! Don't let her take over the universe!"

"Quiet, you little wretch!" Narcissa shouted, clamping her hand over Wembley's mouth. "This is your last warning, Louise Fraggle! Give me that amulet, or not only will I cut his throat, I'll make you and your other friends watch as he slowly and painfully bleeds to death!"

"You wouldn't!" Mokey gasped.

"Try me!" Narcissa shouted, pushing the dagger's blade closer to Wembley's neck. "You have five seconds to make your choice, Louise! Give me the amulet, or watch your friend die!"

Lou was practically frozen. She didn't know what to do. Narcissa inched the blade closer to Wembley's throat each second. It wasn't until the knife was just about to slice into Wembley's neck until Lou reacted.

"STOP!" she shrieked. "You can have the amulet! Just please don't hurt Wembley!"

Narcissa stood up. She kept her grip on Wembley, and the dagger, just in case Lou decided to pull a fast one.

"No tricks now, Fraggle," she said. "Or else your friend gets it!"

"No," Lou said, about ready to burst into tears. "I hate to do this, but I can't let you hurt Wembley. It's all yours. Please, just let him go!"

"Of course, my dear, of course. In fact, I'll let you all go, once the amulet is in my hands."

Narcissa walked up to Lou, dropped the dagger, and held out her hand. The goblins let go of Lou, and she took a deep breath, took off the amulet, and shakily, handed it to Narcissa. Once in her hand, Narcissa immediately dropped Wembley, and gripped the amulet with both her hands.

"At last!" she shouted. "It's mine! Ultimate power is mine!"

"Good for you," Red said, sarcastically. "Well, we'll be seeing you!"

Red was about to walk off, when she was suddenly blocked by the goblins. The other Fraggles found themselves blocked off as well.

"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Gobo shouted. "You said you'd let us go once you got the amulet!"

"That I did, my furry friend," Narcissa said. "I'll let you go all right. Straight down to my dungeon!"

Narcissa snapped her fingers, and a trap door opened beneath the five Fraggles' feet, plunging them down. Narcissa cackled madly.

"They fell for it!" she shouted. "Those little _fools_ fell for it!"

"What are you gonna do with my friends?" Wembley asked, nervously. "You're not gonna hurt them, are you?"

In response, Narcissa hit Wembley in the face with the back of her hand. Then she picked up the chain, and threw it to her goblins.

"Take him away!" she commanded. "I'm through with him."

"Yes, oh mighty one," the head goblin said, yanking the chain.

Wembley began struggling this time, refusing to move. This only earned him several punches to the face and stomach from the goblins.

Meanwhile, the five Fraggles had landed in the dungeon, with no way out. Gobo ran to the door, and tried to open it, but it was locked. Red actually tried to climb the wall to see if she could find the trap door they fell through, but to no avail.

"This is it," Boober moaned. "This is the end, I know it is! The bad guy has the amulet, we're locked in a dungeon with no way out, and dungeons are always dark, dank, and damp and a veritable hotbed of germs, and we're all gonna get sick and then die! We're doomed! Doomed, I tell you! Doomed, doomed, doo—"

"You say that word one more time, Boober, and I'll clobber you!" Red shouted.

"Never mind," Boober said.

"What are we going to do now?" Mokey asked.

"Look, a window!" Gobo shouted, running over to the wall. "The bars on it aren't too close together. Maybe we can squeeze out of it."

Gobo climbed up to the window, and tried to squeeze through the bars. It looked like he was going to make it. Unfortunately, the window was right above the moat, and Gobo's tail happened to be dangling in the water. Just as he was about to get through, he felt something bite his tail, and hard.

 _CHOMP!_

"Yeeee _oooowwwww_!" Gobo shouted, zooming back into the dungeon as fast as he could. Red looked out the window, and sighed.

"Just as I figured," she said. "The bananacuda strikes again. We're not going anywhere any time soon."

"Wait a minute," Mokey said. "We still have our backpacks! Gobo, why don't you use your pickaxe to dig us out?"

"I can't," Gobo sighed. "That weird Fire-Breathing Fraggle Eater plant took it from me. Let's face it, you guys, we're stuck."

"We'll never get out of here," Boober said. "We're doo—"

"Watch it, Boober," Red warned. "I'm tired of you yelling out we're doomed! Doomed, I say! Doo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hooooooomed!"

"Well, we are," Boober grumbled, sounding a little put out.

Lou heaved a sigh, stood up, and walked over to the window. She leaned against it, and stared outside, not really looking at anything.

"If only I hadn't given Narcissa the amulet," she said.

"But Lou, you _had_ to," Mokey said. "She had a knife at Wembley's throat!"

"I wonder why she didn't throw him in the dungeon with the rest of us?" Red asked.

"I don't know, and I don't want to think about it," Gobo said. "I just hope he's okay."

"Me too," Mokey said.

"Me three," Red agreed.

Suddenly, the five Fraggles heard voices outside. The door opened, and there stood the goblins. They flung Wembley into the dungeon as hard as they could, and he was practically beaten to a pulp. His shirt was torn, his hair was disheveled, he was covered in bruises, and practically in tears.

"Wembley!" Mokey gasped, as she and the others ran to the green Fraggle.

"He makes a pretty good punching bag, doesn't he?" one of the goblins asked.

"He sure does!" another shouted, with an obnoxious sounding laugh.

"I'll show you guys who'll make a good punching bag!" Gobo shouted, furiously. He ran right for the goblins, but they slammed the door just as he got there, and he wound up running right into it, face first.

 _CRASH!_

"Ow!" Gobo shouted.

"Gobo, are you okay?" Red asked.

"Fine," Gobo said, sourly, as he rubbed his nose. "Don't worry about me, Red. I'm more concerned about Wembley right now!"

"Wembley, are you all right?" Mokey asked.

Wembley didn't answer. It hurt too much to move. He let out a tearful moan, and then passed out. Gobo, Red, Mokey, and Boober began talking at once, trying to make Wembley comfortable, and checking over his injuries. Lou turned away, and went back to the window. She just couldn't bear to look at Wembley in this condition. She knew it was her fault. If it hadn't been for her and the amulet, Wembley would never had gotten beaten up. As she was staring out the window, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"It wasn't your fault, Lou," Gobo said. "You didn't know this was going to happen."

"I can't help it, Gobo," Lou sighed. "I feel like such a failure! I unlocked the amulet's powers sure, but then what did I go and do? I _gave_ it to the bad guy! I willingly gave it to the bad guy!"

"You _had_ to do it," Gobo said. "She would have killed Wembley if you didn't!"

"Yeah, but he still got clobbered by those goblins," Lou said.

"Come on, Lou!" Red shouted. "How were you to know Narcissa would tell her goblins to clean his clock? Besides, he's going to be okay. Nothing's broken, he's just badly bruised, that's all."

"Let's just face it, you guys," Lou said. "I'm not cut out to be the Chosen One. They picked the wrong Fraggle for the job. I'm just a failure!"

"Oh, Lou! That's ridiculous!" Mokey shouted. "You are _not_ a failure!"

"Yeah," Boober said. "It isn't your fault that destiny picked a rotten Chosen One."

"Boober!" Gobo, Red, and Mokey shouted in unison.

"Sorry," Boober said, sheepishly.

"I don't want to talk about it," Lou said, turning back to the window. "Just leave me alone."

"But we're just trying to help," Red said.

"Please, Red!" Lou shouted. "All of you, please just leave me alone!"

Gobo, Red, Mokey, and Boober looked at each other, and stepped away from the window, but they kept watching their friend. Lou sniffled, buried her face in her arms, and began crying.

"Wow," Red said. "I have never seen Lou like this before."

"I don't think anybody has," Mokey said. "Poor Lou."

"She's just upset," Gobo said. "We'd better leave her alone for awhile. Give her some time to collect herself, you know."

The others agreed. It was about all they could do at the moment. They left Lou alone for the time being, and focused their attention on Wembley, and making sure he was going to be okay.

For the rest of the day, Lou stood by the window. Her mood hadn't improved any. As a matter of fact, as she stood there, she could see flashes of lightning and fire shoot out from the castle. She figured Narcissa was playing with the amulet, to get a feel for how it worked before she started to take over the universe. That only made her feel worse, but for some reason, she couldn't look away. Gobo, Red, Mokey, and Boober didn't know what to do. No matter what they tried, Lou just would not believe them when they told them it wasn't her fault. Wembley was still unconscious, so he wasn't in much of a position to help.

Late that night, Lou was wide awake, and still staring out the window, still feeling sorry for herself. She knew it wasn't going to help the situation, but she didn't know what else she was going to do.

"Why me?" she asked herself. "Why am I the Chosen One? I'm not anyone special. I don't do anything important for Fraggle Rock. So why me? Why did destiny have to pick on _me_? Gobo should've been the Chosen One instead. After all, _he's_ the explorer. And Red's brave. She'd make a better Chosen One. Nobody's ever going to believe me as a Chosen One. I don't even believe it myself. I'm never going to defeat Narcissa."

"Sure you will," a familiar voice said. "I believe in you."

Lou turned around, and saw Wembley standing there behind her.

"What are you doing up?" she asked. "I thought you were asleep."

"I woke up," Wembley said, shrugging. "I know you're upset about what's been happening, but I just wanted you to know that I believe in you, Lou."

"Then you're the only one that does. Seriously, Wembley, I don't think I can do this. I don't even know _how_ I'm going to do this. Boober was right. Destiny picked a rotten Chosen One. I don't even believe in myself to do this."

"Then maybe it's a good thing that I believe in you. Sometimes, it helps when you know there's at least one person who believes in you."

 _If just one person believes in you._

 _Deep enough, and strong enough, believes in you._

 _Hard enough, and long enough before you knew it,_

 _Someone else would think, if he can do it, I can do it._

 _Making it_

 _Wembley and Gobo: Two_

 _Two whole people who believe in you._

 _And if two whole people believe in you._

 _Deep enough, and strong enough believe in you._

 _Hard enough, and long enough there's bound to be some_

 _Other person who believes in making it a threesome._

 _Making it_

 _Mokey joins in: Three_

 _People you can say, believe in me._

 _And if three whole people_

 _Red joins in: Why not four_

 _And if four whole people_

 _Boober joins in: Why not more, and more, and more._

 _All Five: And when all those people believe in you,_

 _Deep enough and strong enough believe in you,_

 _Hard enough and long enough it stands to reason_

 _You yourself will start to see what everybody sees in you._

 _And maybe even you, can believe in you, too._

Lou looked down at the floor for several seconds. Then she looked up at the Fraggle Five, sniffled a bit, and began to cry again, but this time, she wasn't crying because she felt sorry for herself. She was so moved by her friends' song, that she just couldn't help but cry.

"You guys are the greatest," she managed to choke out, and the six Fraggles gathered around her for a group hug.

"Do you feel better, Lou?" Wembley asked.

"I do now," Lou said. "Thanks, everybody."

"Good," Boober said. "Now maybe we can get some sleep!"

"Yes, after all, Wembley needs his rest after taking such a bad beating," Mokey replied.

"That, and you can't fight evil when you've been awake all night," Red pointed out.

"And maybe by morning we'll come up with an idea of what to do," Gobo said.

The other Fraggles agreed, settled themselves in various parts of the dungeon, and went to sleep.

"Wembley?" Lou asked, before she went to sleep.

"Yeah?" Wembley asked.

"Did you really mean it when you said you believed in me?"

"Sure I meant it. I really _do_ believe in you, Lou. I know you'll be able to get the amulet back and save the universe. According to the Storyteller's stories, the Chosen One _always_ wins. I know you can do it, and you will."

"Thanks, Wembley."

Lou took Wembley's hand, and squeezed it gently. Then she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

 _AUTHOR'S NOTE: the song in this chapter is from the musical, "Snoopy."_


	11. Breakout

The next morning, the six Fraggles sat in a circle, trying to come up with an idea on how to get out of the dungeon, get the amulet back, and defeat Narcissa before she could take over the universe.

"This is going to be easier said than done," Gobo sighed.

"Maybe we should take it one step at a time," Mokey said. "Let's start by finding out how to get out of this dungeon."

"We can't crawl out the window, that's for sure," Red said. "Since we're right above the moat, we'll be fish food before we can make it up to another window."

"We can't dig our way out," Gobo said. "My pickaxe is gone, and we don't have any other tools that will let us dig through the floor, since it's nothing but rock!"

"I think the only way out of here is to have the goblins let us out," Boober said. "And that's not about to happen."

"Wait a minute!" Red shouted, snapping her fingers. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Lou asked.

"We'll get the goblins to let us out!" Red shouted. "Boober, you're a genius!"

"Red, you're out of your mind!" Boober shouted. "How are we going to convince the goblins to let us out of here?! You can't just go over to the door and say excuse me Mr. Goblin, but would you mind letting us out? They won't go for it."

"I know that," Red said. "So we'll have to trick them."

"You want to pull the ol' playing sick routine and run out the door when the guards come to check on you, eh?" Gobo asked.

"No," Red said. "I've got a better ploy. Here's what we'll do."

The Fraggles leaned in while Red whispered her plan.

"It'll never work!" Boober shouted.

"What makes you say that?" Mokey asked.

"Nothing really," Boober said, shrugging. "I always say that."

" _That's_ for sure," Red muttered.

"Come on," Gobo said. "Let's get started!"

The first part of Red's plan was to keep watch for the goblins. This involved the Fraggles to stand on each others' shoulders in order to reach the window in the door.

"Why am I always on the bottom?" Boober moaned.

"Because you're afraid of heights," Red said.

"Never mind," Gobo said, as he climbed up Boober, Red, Wembley, Mokey, and Lou to get to the window.

"Can you see anything?" Lou asked.

"Yeah," Gobo said. "A lot of nothing."

"I hope they hurry up soon!" Wembley groaned. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!"

"We _told_ you not to get in the middle of the tower, Wembley!" Red shouted. "Matter of fact, we told you not to get _into_ this tower in the first place!"

"Yeah, you'll only hurt yourself more than you've been hurt already!" Boober shouted. "You're gonna get bruises on top of your other bruises!"

"But I wanted to help!" Wembley shouted.

"Quiet, you guys, I think I hear something!" Gobo shouted.

"That's probably my knees breaking," Boober said.

"Sshhh!" Red hissed.

The six Fraggles listened carefully, and heard the sound of several marching feet. Gobo stretched his neck out as far as it would go outside the bars on the window, and looked down the hall.

"They're coming!" he shouted, jumping from the Fraggle tower. "Everybody get down!"

"Okay!" Red shouted, as Gobo, Lou, and Mokey helped Wembley off her shoulders, and she jumped off Boober's.

"Thank you," Boober said. "I think I was about to get a hernia."

"Now for phase two of my plan!" Red shouted, ignoring Boober. "Let's PARTY!"

Gobo, Red, Mokey, Wembley, and Lou then began to act like they were having a huge party in the dungeon. Boober wasn't sure this was going to work at all.

"Only Red would come up with a crazy idea to have a party in a dungeon," Gobo said.

"They'll probably hear us and make us stay in here even longer since they'll think we're having such a good time," he said.

"Keep quiet, and keep whooping it up, Boober!" Red shouted.

"Whoop, whoop," Boober said, a bit half-heartedly.

"What the heck is going on in there?" the goblin leader asked as he and his troops passed by the Fraggles' cell.

"Sounds like they're having a party," another goblin said. "But how can you have a party in a dungeon? You're not supposed to enjoy being in a dungeon!"

"Let's check this out."

The leader took the keys, and unlocked the door. Sure enough, there were the six Fraggles, laughing, shouting, singing, and dancing.

"What in the world are you _do_ ing?!" the leader shouted.

"We're having a dungeon party, what's it look like?" Red asked.

"But how can you have a party in a dungeon?" the leader asked. "You're not supposed to _like_ it in a dungeon!"

"Fraggles can have a party anywhere!" Lou shouted. "We've never had one in a dungeon before!"

"Yeah, it's a lot of fun!" Wembley shouted.

"We could just stay here forever and party for the rest of our lives!" Mokey shouted.

"Don't over do it, Mokey," Boober muttered.

"It's a Fraggles' lot in life to have as much fun as possible!" Red shouted. "If we couldn't have any fun, we'd be miserable!"

"So you're having fun now?" the leader of the goblins asked.

"Oh yes!" Mokey shouted. "The most fun we've ever had in our entire lives!"

"And you'd be miserable if you couldn't party in the dungeon?" another goblin asked.

"You got it!" Gobo shouted, nodding his head.

"Okay, then," the lead goblin said. "Everybody out! Out, out, out! You're not allowed in this dungeon! Get out!"

"Awwwww!" Red whined, pouting.

"No, don't make us do _that_!" Gobo shouted. "We'll be so miserable if we can't have a dungeon party!"

"Well, you can't!" the leader shouted. "No party for you! Move it!"

All six Fraggles began marching out of the cell, grumbling, groaning, and whining, leaving the goblins inside. Once the Fraggles were out of the cell, Red quickly slammed the door shut, and locked it, since the goblins left the keys in the lock.

"What the . . . ." the leader said. "Hey! What's going on here?"

"Gotcha!" the six Fraggles shouted in unison, and then they took off running, taking the keys with them.

"Rats," the goblin leader said. "Narcissa is _not_ going to be pleased with this turn of events."

"He's right, you know," Boober said, as the six Fraggles were racing down the hallway. "She _isn't_ going to be happy when she finds out we escaped!"

"Yeah, I know that, Boober," Gobo said. "We _all_ know it, but what can we do about it? Except get the Rainbow Amulet back."

"But how are we going to do it?" Red asked.

"I don't know if I'll be able to just rip it off her neck," Lou said. "It may have the same effect that it had on that troll who tried to rip it off me. A zap in the hand."

"Maybe not," Wembley said. "Since you're the Chosen One, Lou, maybe it'll let you take it without getting zapped."

"Well, we could try," Lou said. "I don't know how we're going to do it, but at least we could try."

The other Fraggles nodded, and began their search in the throne room. It was dark, and Narcissa didn't seem to be around.

"My, it's dark in here," Mokey said.

"No kidding," Red said. "Where are the Ditzies when you need them?"

"I hate stumbling around in the dark," Boober said. "It's easy to trip over things and break your leg. And then once you break your leg, there's the off chance it'll get infected and then you get gangrene, and you'll have to have your leg amputated, and then the spot where they cut off your leg will get infected, and you'll be in so much pain, you'll die."

"Oh, thanks for those wonderful, cheery thoughts, Boober," Red said, sarcastically.

"How are we going to get any light in here without the Ditzies?" Lou asked. "And without the amulet, as well?"

"Uncle Traveling Matt once said the Silly Creatures make it light by pushing this thing up and down on a wall," Gobo said. "He said they called it a switch."

"Why do they call it that?" Wembley asked.

"Beats me," Gobo said. "I guess it's because they use it to switch from light to dark and vice versa. Maybe if we find a switch, we can get some light in here."

"Do you know what a switch looks like?" Red asked.

"Well . . . . no," Gobo said. "All I know is that it's on the wall."

"Well, let's try to find it," Mokey said.

The six Fraggles began feeling around the walls for this switch thing Gobo had talked about. After searching for several minutes, Gobo finally felt something against the wall suddenly.

"I think I found it," he said.

"Oh, you found it all right," a familiar voice said. The room suddenly lit up, and revealed Narcissa standing there. Gobo had his hand on her leg. Once he realized this, he immediately removed his hand, and smiled, sheepishly.

"Heh, heh, heh," he said, nervously. "Uhh, hello there."

"Hello yourself," Narcissa said. "Well. I see you got out of the dungeon. I'm not surprised. Goblins are notorious for not being able to do anything right, after all."

"They were pushovers!" Red shouted.

"And I suppose this means you're going to try to take my amulet from me?" Narcissa asked.

"It's not your amulet, and you're darn right we are!" Gobo shouted. "Charge!"

The orange Fraggle jumped into the air, landed on Narcissa's chest, and grabbed the amulet. However, like the troll that had tried to take the amulet from Lou, Gobo wound up with a shock going through him.

"Yeeeeeeeeoooooooowwwwwww!" he yelled. Finally, he let go of it, and slid to the floor, slightly singed.

"Gobo, are you all right?" Red asked.

"Fine," Gobo said, with a small cough. "I enjoy being barbecued."

"Really," Narcissa said. "Well, then you'll _love_ this!"

Immediately, Narcissa took hold of the amulet, and pressed the red stone. A giant flame came shooting out of the center of the amulet, directly at the Fraggles. All six of them jumped in different directions in order to avoid being fried. Once Narcissa let go of the stone, there were no Fraggles to be found.

"I know you're hiding around here somewhere," she said. "Come out, come out wherever you are!"

Narcissa looked around the throne room. There were plenty of places for Fraggles to hide in there, and she knew it. She also knew it was possible for them to have snuck into the hallway, so she checked there first. The only thing she saw in the hallway were suits of armor, lined up on both sides of the wall.

"Now, let me see," she said. "I wonder if those little Fraggles could be hiding in here?"

Narcissa pressed the blue stone on the amulet, and a gust of wind blew out of the center with the force of a hurricane, knocking one of the suits of armor into another one, causing a domino effect. When the last suit of armor fell on the opposite wall, it revealed Boober standing behind it, shaking nervously. When he realized his hiding place was exposed, he tried to run for it, but Narcissa grabbed his scarf, and held him up to her face.

"Going somewhere?" she asked.

"You know, we've _really_ got to stop meeting like this," Boober said. Then he gave Narcissa a big kiss on the nose.

" _Aaaggghhh_!" Narcissa screamed, and immediately dropped the blue Fraggle to the floor, while wiping her face off.

"Bye!" Boober shouted, and ran off as fast as he could.

By the time Narcissa recovered, Boober was gone. She growled, and continued her search, going back into the throne room. When she got inside, she could see an orange tail with a red tuft of fur sticking out from under her throne. She grabbed it, and yanked Red out.

"Yeeep!" the pigtailed Fraggle shouted.

"Hello, little girl," Narcissa said.

"Uhh, hi yourself there," Red said. "Fancy meeting you here. Heh, heh. Eeeeehhhhh."

Narcissa then threw Red into the air, caught her by the pigtails, and held her up to her eye level.

"Hey!" Red shouted. "Watch the hair, okay?"

"Where are the rest of your little friends hiding, hmmm?" Narcissa asked.

"Forget it! Nothing you can do to me will make me tell you where they are!"

"Oh no? What if I cut off your pigtails?"

"Eeeeep! No! Not my pigtails! Anything but my pigtails! Okay, you win! They're in the hall closet!"

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Narcissa walked out to the hallway, carrying Red by her pigtails, until they got to a door.

"This one?" she asked.

"Yeah, that one," Red said. "Sorry, fellas! But she threatened me with cruel and unusual punishment! Forgive me!"

Narcissa ignored her, and opened the door. The minute she did, however, several boxes, dented armor, broken statuary, and other assorted knick-knacks came spilling out of it, practically burying her.

"Well, whattaya know," Red said. "Wrong closet. Bye!"

And with that, Red ran off to catch up with her friends, who happened to see all that junk fall on the evil sorceress.

"Gosh, Red, how did you know that was gonna happen?" Wembley asked.

"Aw, it wasn't so hard," Red said. "While we were looking for hiding places, I naturally assumed there would be at least one closet packed to the brim with stuff so that when one person opened it, it would all come flying out. And by calculating the number of doors in the hallway, and subtracting the odd numbers against the even numbers, I came to the conclusion that . . . ."

"You lucked out, didn't you?" Gobo asked.

"Yeah," Red admitted. "I got lucky."

"Let's hope I get lucky and she's unconscious," Lou said. "That way, I'll have an easier time trying to get the amulet out!"

The six Fraggles approached the mess, and began digging through it. As they were digging, piece by piece, the junk suddenly flew up into the air in a tornado, and Narcissa stood up. She used the amulet to drive the tornado toward the Fraggles, and dropped all of the junk on top of them. They weren't hurt, but they were pretty dazed as they climbed out of the mess.

"Think you can get defeat me that easy?" Narcissa asked. "I haven't yet begun to fight!"

"I was afraid she'd say that," Boober said.

Narcissa waved her hand in front of her, and all of her suits of armor stood upright, came alive, and they were all brandishing weapons for combat.

"I don't like the looks of this," Boober said, nervously.

"ATTACK!" Narcissa screamed at the top of her lungs.

"RUN!" Gobo yelled.

The Fraggles took off running, and Narcissa's suits of armor began to run after them, swinging swords, and battle axes, and shooting arrows with crossbows.

"You know, for giant suits made out of heavy iron, they run pretty fast," Red commented, dodging an oncoming broadsword.

"Maybe we should split up!" Gobo shouted.

"AAAHHH!" Boober shouted, as a battle axe came down right next to him, nearly cutting his tail off. "Bad choice of words, Gobo!"

"Never mind!" Red shouted, grabbing Mokey's hand. "Let's just move it!"

"Whoa!" Mokey shouted, as Red ran off as fast as she could, yanking Mokey off her feet.

"We're all gonna die," Boober moaned.

"Come on!" Gobo shouted, grabbing Gobo by the back of the neck, and yanking him off in the opposite direction of Red and Mokey.

"Gee, uhhh, which way you think we oughta go, Lou?" Wembley asked.

"This way!" Lou shouted, grabbing Wembley's hand, and running off, just as an arrow hit the ground where they had been standing only moments before.

When the six Fraggles split up, the suits of armor stopped all of a sudden. They weren't exactly sure which way they should go. Narcissa groaned, getting more and more frustrated by the second.

"Axes, follow the two girls," she said. "Swords, follow the two boys. Crossbows, follow the Chosen One and her little boyfriend. Now move, move, move! Let's see some action here! And don't come back until you've finished them off!"

The suits of armor saluted, split up, and ran off after their designated groups.


	12. Eight Crazy Knights

Red and Mokey managed to run into the main hall of the castle. The door was right in front of them.

"Come on, Mokey!" Red shouted. "Now's our chance to get out of here!"

"But what about Lou and the boys?" Mokey asked. "We can't just leave them here in the castle!"

"We'll go find someone who can help us," Red said, pulling the lever to lower the drawbridge. "Then we'll come back to help Lou and the boys."

Mokey wasn't sure that was such a good idea, but she didn't have any better ones, so she just decided to go with Red on this, at least until they were halfway across the drawbridge, and it started to rise.

"Hey, what's going on?" Red asked.

"The thing's going up!" Mokey shouted.

"Uh oh . . . . Mokey, look. It's Sir Hollow-Head and some of his troops."

"Boy, talk about a bad knight!"

Red and Mokey tried to run, but the incline of the drawbridge was too much for them, and they slid right down, back into the castle. However, they _did_ wind up sliding into "Sir Hollow-Head," and knocked him into the other suits of armor. All of them clattered to the ground.

 _CRASH!_

"Oooh, that'll wake you up in the morning," Red said, cringing at the noise.

"Come on, Red, let's get out of . . . . ." Mokey began, but she was interrupted when one of the suits grabbed her. "Eeeek!"

"Mokey!" Red shouted. "Let go of her, you overgrown tin can!"

With that, Red kicked the suit of armor in it's leg as hard as she could.

 _CLAAAAAAANG!_

"Hey, Mokey?" she said, calmly. "You know what happens if you kick a suit of armor in the leg really, really hard?"

"No, Red," Mokey said. "What happens?"

"It really, really _HUUUUURRRRRTS_!" Red screamed. Then she grabbed her foot in her hands and began hopping up and down on her other foot.

As Red was hopping up and down in pain, one of the suits of armor held up it's axe, and was about ready to bring it crashing down on Red, going to cut her in half, when she wound up jumping to the side, just as the armor brought the axe down. It missed her by a fraction of an inch, and was imbedded into the floor.

"Whoa, talk about your close shaves!" Red shouted.

Red didn't have much time to recover from that, because the other suits began to swing their axes at her. The pigtailed Fraggle had no choice but to duck and dodge as quickly as she could in order to avoid getting chopped to bits. Mokey couldn't help her much. She was busy trying to pull herself out of the grip of the suit of armor she was stuck in. As she was doing this, one of the small rocks she had collected between the Gorgs' garden and the river fell out of her sweater. The suit of armor didn't notice it, at least until it stepped on it, and slipped. When it fell, it crashed into the other suits of armor, causing them to fall over in a domino effect. It also wound up letting go of Mokey as well.

"Whooooaaaa!" the mauve Fraggle shouted, as she went flying.

"Don't worry, Mokey!" Red shouted, running as fast as she could to get underneath her best friend. "I gotcha!"

Unfortunately, Red's aim was a little off, and Mokey crashed to the floor directly behind her.

"I don't gotcha," Red said, cringing. "Oooh. Sorry about that, Mokey. You okay?"

"Oh, look at all the pretty flying sparklies," Mokey said, dazedly. Then she shook her head out to regain her composure. "What just happened?"

"The giant tin can tripped on one of those rocks Wembley left for us earlier in this trip," Red said. "He slipped on it, like the time Gobo's uncle slipped on some round pebbles we were playing with when we were kids."

"Oh," Mokey said.

The two Fraggles then looked at each other, and smiled.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Mokey asked, taking a handful of rocks out of her pocket.

"Oh yeah," Red said. " _Def_ initely! Let's go!"

Red and Mokey jumped up, and ran to the mechanism that opened the drawbridge, just as the suits of armor were getting themselves together. Red pulled the lever to lower the drawbridge, while Mokey spread the rocks on the ground.

"Hey, you overgrown tin cans!" Red shouted. "Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyaaaaahhhhh!"

Mokey stuck her thumbs in her ears, wiggled her fingers, and stuck out her tongue at the suits of armor, blowing them a raspberry. She and Red kept this up until the suits of armor ran toward them. The minute they were close enough, the two Fraggles jumped to the side, and the suits of armor ran directly into the rocks they had left. The suits of armor went slipping and sliding right off the drawbridge, and into the moat.

"That takes care of them," Red said. "Come on, Mokey, let's go find . . . ."

Red was suddenly cut off by the sound of loud chomping. She and Mokey looked into the moat, but all they saw was a gigantic bananacuda with a huge stomach, using one of the axes as a toothpick.

"Wow," Red said. "Those bananacudas will eat anything, won't they?"

Not wanting to be the next course, Red and Mokey ran back into the castle as fast as they could, raising the drawbridge to keep the bananacudas out.

Gobo and Boober raced into the castle's kitchen and braced themselves against the door in an attempt to keep out the sword wielding suits of armor.

"This is never going to work!" Boober shouted. "They're heavier than we are! We'll never be able to keep it closed! This is it, Gobo! This is the end! I never thought it would end this way, getting chopped up like an onion. Diced like celery. Sliced like a radish roast . . . . . I'm starting to get hungry all of a sudden, think Narcissa will let us have a last meal?"

"Knock it off, Boober!" Gobo shouted. "We'll get out of this!"

"How?"

"Well, I don't know yet. I need to think this over a little."

Suddenly, the door swung open, and Gobo and Boober wound up smashed against the wall.

"Oogh . . . ." Boober grunted. "That hurt."

One of the suits of armor swung the door, and found the two Fraggles standing there, somewhat dazed. Luckily, they came out of their daze just in time to move before the suit swung it's sword at them. They tried to race out the door, but one of the suits of armor blocked them.

"What do we do now, Gobo?! What do we do nooooowwww?!" Boober screamed.

"I'm thinking!" Gobo shouted, dodging the sword again. "Maybe I can use a knife or something to hold them off for awhile."

Gobo jumped onto one of the counters, and grabbed the first knife he could find. Unfortunately for him, it turned out to be a butter knife.

"Well, it's better than nothing," he said, shrugging.

"Do you even know anything about sword fighting?" Boober asked.

"No, but how hard can it be?"

"Oh boy. If you need me, Gobo, I'll be hiding in the cupboard."

With that, Boober dove into an open cupboard and slammed the door shut, leaving Gobo alone to face the suits of armor with only a butter knife. He began swinging the knife, blocking off the swords.

"With friends like you, Boober, who needs enemies!" he shouted.

Boober said nothing. He didn't want the suits of armor to know where he was hiding, though he did feel a little bad about ditching Gobo to fend off the suits of armor by himself. He peeked out of the cupboard and saw Gobo swinging his knife and blocking off the swords, but he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. Finally, the suits of armor knocked the butter knife out of the orange Fraggle's hand, and had him cornered.

"Oh no!" Boober shouted. "I've got to do something! But if I do, I'm likely to be cut in half. And if I don't, Gobo's likely to be cut in half. Oh heck with it!"

Boober then jumped out of the cabinet and onto the counter.

"Okay, here I am!" he shouted. "Come and get me! Nyah-nyah-nyaaaaaahhhh!"

The suits of armor turned, and began waving their swords at Boober. Boober ran along the countertops as fast as he could, trying to avoid getting sliced. Gobo chased after the suits of armor, not knowing what else to do, but he couldn't just stand there and let them cut Boober in half. Boober kept jumping and ducking, until he accidentally tripped over a large pot sitting on the counter, and knocked it over. It was full of water, and when it fell, water splashed all over the suits of armor.

"Oh no!" Boober shouted, cowering, just as the suits lifted their swords, but before they could bring them down, they froze.

"Good going, Boober!" Gobo shouted. "You rusted them!"

"I did?" Boober asked, confused.

"Sure, when you tripped over that pot. The water hit them, and they rusted!"

"Oh yeah. I guess I did. How about that?"

"Come on, we'd better go find the others. They may need help."

"Right, just give me a minute."

Boober picked up the pot, took it over to the sink, filled it with water, and then ran out of the kitchen with it as fast as he could.

"I'm not taking any more chances," he said.

Gobo couldn't argue with that one, so he grabbed another pot, filled it with water, and ran after Boober.

Meanwhile, Wembley and Lou were running as fast as they could, trying to avoid getting shish-kebabbed by the arrows the suits of armor were flinging at them, and it wasn't easy. There wasn't anything around to hide behind.

"They're getting closer!" Wembley shouted.

"Just keep running!" Lou shouted. "And don't stop! I read somewhere it's harder to hit a moving target!"

"I wonder if those guys know that?"

"Who knows? Just run!"

Luckily, while the two Fraggles were running, they found themselves in Narcissa's throne room, and not a moment too soon. They ducked behind the throne just as the suits of armor arrived. Then they began trashing the room, knocking over everything in it, looking for their quarry.

"This doesn't look good," Wembley said.

"I have an idea," Lou said. "Let's sneak out. They're so busy, they won't notice us if we're quiet."

Wembley nodded, and he and Lou crept out from behind the throne, and made their way to the door. Unfortunately, Wembley wound up tripping on the rug, and crash landed flat on his face.

"Ack!" he shouted.

This caught the attention of the suits of armor, and the chase was on once more. Unfortunately, before Wembley could get anywhere, one of the suits fired his crossbow, and the arrow hit Wembley right in the tail, and pinned it to the floor.

"Yeouch!" he yelled. "Hey, watch it with those things! They're sharp!"

The suit of armor clanked up to Wembley, reloaded his crossbow, and aimed carefully. Wembley tried to move the arrow off his tail, but it was no use. He was stuck. He ducked down to the floor, covered his head with his arms, and began whimpering, waiting for it all to be over, and hoping it would be fast. He heard the suit of armor fire the crossbow, but instead of feeling any pain, he heard a strange noise.

 _CLANG!_

Wembley looked up, and saw Lou standing over him, holding a shield in front of her. The arrow had ricocheted off of it.

"Wow, Lou!" Wembley shouted. "You got here in the nick of time!"

"Don't relax yet," Lou said, as the other suits of armor began firing their crossbows at the shield, which was starting to dent as the arrows hit it. "I don't know how long this shield is gonna last at this rate!"

Luckily, Lou didn't have to worry about the arrows and the shield. At that moment, Mokey and Red were coming down one end of the hallway.

"Oh my goodness!" Mokey gasped.

"Come on!" Red shouted. "We've got to get Wembley unstuck!"

Red and Mokey ran forward. Red helped Lou hold onto the shield while Mokey and Wembley tried to dislodge the arrow, but it wouldn't budge. It was stuck.

"We're going to need some more Fraggle power to get this arrow loose," Mokey said.

"We'd love to help, but we can't," Red said. "At least not until the suits leave!"

"And it doesn't look like they're going to be doing that any time soon!" Lou shouted.

"I wish Gobo were here," Wembley sighed.

Wembley was about to get his wish. Coming down the other end of the hallway were Gobo and Boober, carrying their pots of water.

"Gobo, look, it's the other suits of armor!" Boober shouted.

"Yeah, and I'll bet anything Wembley and Lou are behind that shield!" Gobo shouted. "You know what to do."

"Right, Gobo. Ready . . . ."

"Aim . . . ."

"WATER!" both Gobo and Boober shouted at the same time, and threw the water out of their pots as hard as they could (they thought it would be silly to yell "fire" since they were hurling water).

The minute the water hit the suits of armor, they began to rust, and were unable to move. Red and Lou peeked out from behind the shield and saw the rusty armor, Gobo and Boober running toward them.

"What just happened?" Red asked.

"We figured out the armor's weakness," Gobo said. "It rusts."

"This should take care of the last of them," Boober said. "Unless Mokey and Red are still being chased."

"No, we tricked them into falling in the moat," Mokey said. "We couldn't tell if they rusted first, though. The bananacudas ate them before we could see. They must not get a lot of iron in their diet."

"Oh, _Mo_ key!" Red groaned.

"Umm, you guys?" Wembley said. "I hate to sound impatient, but you think maybe you can get this arrow off my tail? It's starting to hurt."

"Oh, sorry, Wembley!" Mokey shouted.

Gobo, Red, Mokey, Boober, and Lou grabbed hold of the arrow, and yanked it as hard as they could, managing to pull it out of the floor. Wembley picked up his tail, and began rubbing it.

"You okay, Wembley?" Gobo asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Wembley said. "What do you think, Boober?"

"Looks okay," Boober said, inspecting Wembley's tail. "Just a bit dented and bruised slightly. I don't think there's anything to worry about. Unless, of course, it develops into tetanus."

"Don't start, Boober," Red warned.

"Well, now that we've taken care of Narcissa's army, what do we do now?" Mokey asked.

"What else?" Lou asked. "Take care of Narcissa."

"Yeah, but where is she?" Gobo asked. "She's made herself scarce since she sicced her tin cans on us."

Before anyone could answer, a beam of orange light from out of nowhere hit the floor, and the ground began shaking violently, knocking the Fraggles off their feet, and causing the rusty armor to crash to the floor as well, right on top of them. Or at least most of them. Somehow or another, Wembley was the only one of the six Fraggles not to have gotten clobbered by the falling armor.

"Oh no!" he shouted, and he immediately began trying to push the heavy metal suits off his friends. "Don't worry, guys! I'll get you out of there!"

Wembley was about to try to push one of the legs from the top of the pile off, when he was grabbed from behind, yanked backwards, and lifted off the ground. He let out a yelp, but it was cut short when a hand clamped over his mouth. He craned his neck as far as he could to see who had grabbed him, and gasped when he realized it was Narcissa.

"You're not going anywhere, little one," Narcissa said. "Except with me!"

Narcissa laughed maniacally, and was about to turn around and leave, when she heard the suits of armor being moved. The other Fraggles managed to crawl out of the wreckage, though they were slightly dazed and dizzy. They were snapped out of it almost immediately when they saw Narcissa standing there, with Wembley in her clutches.

"Wembley!" Lou shouted.

"Here we go again," Red groaned, rolling her eyes.

"All right, Narcissa, you've been asking for it!" Gobo shouted. "Come on, guys, let's get her!"

Immediately, Gobo, Red, and Lou charged forward. Narcissa glared at them. She was getting tired of these furry little meddlers. She pressed the purple stone on the amulet, and a bolt of lightning blocked the three Fraggles' path, nearly blasting their feet off.

"Stop right where you are!" she demanded. "No sudden movements, or your little friend gets it!"

Narcissa cackled madly, and pressed the orange and purple stones on the amulet at the same time. The floor began shaking, and a gigantic lightning bolt struck it, destroying the section of floor completely. This resulted in a huge chasm between the sections of the hallway, leaving no way to go around it.

"Let's see you Fraggles try and stop me now!" Narcissa shouted, as she ran down the hallway and disappeared, her mad cackling echoing behind her.


	13. Up on the Roof

The five Fraggles just stood there, too stunned to move. Red was the first to get her wits back, and she ran to the edge of the chasm, looking to see how deep it was.

"Yikes," she said. "Looks like she blew this hole straight down to the basement, and then some!"

"You said it," Gobo said, as he and the others walked over to the chasm. Lou just looked down. Then she looked straight ahead down the hallway. Then she began to run in the opposite direction.

"Lou, what are you doing?" Gobo asked.

"If she's running away, I'm going to run away with her," Boober said.

"I'm not running away!" Lou called from the end of the hallway. "I'm just trying to get a running start!"

"A running . . . ." Red began, and then she realized what Lou was about to do. "Oh no!"

"We've gotta stop her!" Gobo shouted.

Lou began running as fast as she could, and at the right moment, she started to jump. However, Gobo, Red, Mokey, and Boober jumped on her before she could.

"Hey!" Lou shouted. "What do you guys think you're doing?!"

"What do _we_ think _we're_ doing?!" Gobo shouted. "What do _you_ think _you're_ doing?!"

"I'm trying to jump across this chasm!" Lou shouted.

"Are you out of your ever-loving _mind_?!" Red shouted. "It's too wide, and too deep! You gotta be nuts to try to jump _that_ thing!"

"Well, we can't just stand here and do nothing!" Lou shouted. "Who knows what Narcissa's got planned for Wembley now!"

"I don't even see why she up and grabbed him like that, anyway," Boober said. "She already has the amulet. What more could she possibly want?"

"She's probably using him as a hostage," Red said. "If we try to stop her and take back the amulet, she'll probably hurt Wembley, or worse yet . . . ."

"Please, Red!" Gobo shouted. "I don't want to think about that!"

"We've _got_ to find a way to stop her!" Lou shouted.

"How?!" Boober shouted. "We don't even know where she went!"

"Maybe if we tried to think like her," Mokey suggested.

"You gotta be kidding!" Boober shouted.

"No, really," Mokey said. "This could work. Let's just think about this for a minute. If you were a sorceress bent on universal domination, where would be the best spot to use the amulet to achieve that goal?"

"Probably somewhere high up," Gobo said, shrugging. "Like the highest place you could possibly go."

"And where is the highest place you could possibly go around here?" Mokey asked.

The four Fraggles looked at each other, and then it hit them.

"The tower!" they shouted in unison.

"Or to be more precise," Lou said, "the tower roof."

"But we can't get there from here," Red said. "Narcissa turned her hallway into a canyon, remember? And down this hallway was the only way to get there. The only place to go down the side we're on is either the throne room, or across the drawbridge and out of the castle entirely."

"We may not be able to get to the tower from in here," Lou said, and she walked toward the throne room. "But we _can_ get to it from the outside. Did you bring any rope, Gobo?"

"Yeah," Gobo said, taking off his backpack, and pulling the rope out of it. "Why?"

"We're gonna climb to the tower roof!" Lou shouted.

"You mean up the wall?!" Boober shouted. "Are you _nuts_?! We'll never make it that way!"

"Like it or not, Boober, it's the only choice we have," Lou said.

"She's right," Gobo said. "Come on, everybody, we'd better get started."

"I knew I should have stayed in bed three days ago," Boober sighed.

"Three days ago?" Mokey asked.

"Yeah," Boober said. "Then I would still be in Fraggle Rock!"

The others ignored Boober, and climbed out onto the window sill, to see which would be the best way to climb up the castle wall.

Meanwhile, Narcissa opened a door to the roof of the highest tower of her castle. Once there, she pressed the orange stone on the amulet, and aimed it at the floor. A thin stalagmite rose from it. Then she threw Wembley against it, and pressed the green stone almost immediately. Vines began to crawl out of the cracks in the floor, and wound themselves around the green Fraggle, restraining him to the stalagmite.

"That should hold you for awhile," Narcissa said. "After all, I can't have you running around loose, now can I?"

"Why are you doing this?" Wembley asked. "Lou already gave you the amulet!"

"Because I can't have her coming and trying to take it back, you stupid little furball! It's written that the Chosen One will use the amulet to defeat me, and I refuse to be defeated! As long as I have you in my power, little one, she wouldn't _dare_ lay a furry finger on me, and I'll be free to take over the entire universe!"

"Why do you want to take over the universe, anyway?"

"To ensure that I am the most beautiful creature in it! Why do you think I associate with goblins and trolls, and the ugliest beings alive? Why do you think I live in an old, creepy castle like this? They don't rival my exquisite beauty! Things like flowers, trees, and other such nice things do! I also can't abide cute and cuddly creatures, like puppies and kittens! I want it all destroyed so _I_ will be the most beautiful thing everyone in the universe has seen!"

"Gee, that doesn't sound like a very good reason to want to take over the universe. That's kinda selfish, don't you think?"

"Oh, who asked you?!"

Narcissa stood at the edge of the tower, and looked up into the sky, smiling evilly.

"The moon is almost in perfect position," she said. "Aiming the amulet at the moon will magnify their powers. I'll start first with my own land, and then we'll go from there."

"You won't get away with it!" Wembley shouted, struggling. "Lou's the Chosen One, and in the stories, the Chosen One _always_ wins!"

"Silence!" Narcissa shouted, slapping Wembley across the face. "I'll have no backtalk from the likes of a mere Fraggle!"

Narcissa pressed the green stone again, and a vine slithered out of a crack in the stalagmite, and wrapped itself around Wembley's muzzle, practically squeezing it shut. Wembley couldn't open his mouth at all. However, this did not stop him from trying to get loose, anyway.

"Struggle all you want, little one," Narcissa said. "It will do you no good."

While Narcissa was waiting for the moon to reach the perfect position, the other Fraggles had made it to the top of an adjacent tower.

"There they are!" Gobo shouted.

"I knew we climbed up the wrong tower," Boober said.

"How are we going to get over there?" Mokey asked. "I know we're right next to it, but I don't think we should risk jumping."

"We'll have to climb back down and start all over again," Boober said.

"That's going to take too long," Lou said.

"I have an idea," Red said. "Gobo, see if you can lasso that spire."

"Well, I'll try," Gobo said, tying a loop in his rope. "I can't guarantee it's going to work."

Gobo stood on the edge of the tower wall, twirled the lasso, and threw it as hard as he could. He managed to hook the spire, and he pulled on the rope to tighten the lasso.

"Okay, now what?" he asked.

"We're going to swing across," Red said.

"Swing across?!" Boober shouted.

"Sure!" Red shouted. "It'll be just like swinging into the pond in the Great Hall! Except without the water. And all five of us will be doing it at the same time."

"I don't know if this is such a good idea, Red," Lou said.

"How else are we gonna get over there?" Red pointed out.

"She _does_ has a point," Mokey said.

"Yeah, to her head," Gobo muttered.

"I heard that!" Red shouted, giving Gobo a thump in the shoulder.

"Okay, let's go," Gobo said with a sigh. "We really don't have much of a choice, do we? Aaaaahhhh-ah-aaaaahhhhh-ah-aaaaahhhh!"

"Gobo, what _are_ you _do_ ing?!" Red shouted.

"I heard it when I was getting a postcard from my Uncle Matt," Gobo said. "The Silly Creature that lives there was watching this other Silly Creature in a box swing on a vine, and that's what he yelled."

"Oh brother," Boober groaned.

"Never mind," Lou said. "Let's just go! And don't do that Silly Creature yell again, Gobo! Narcissa will hear us!"

"Right," Gobo said, a bit sheepishly. "Sorry."

Immediately, the five Fraggles swung over to the other tower, however, their landing was a bit off. Instead of landing on the tower, they would up colliding with Narcissa.

 _WHAM!_

"Ack!" Narcissa shouted, as she was knocked off her feet.

"Whoops," Red said. "That didn't exactly go according to plan, but it worked! Grab the amulet, Lou!"

Lou was about to do just that, when Narcissa grabbed her by the wrist.

"I don't think so, my little pretty!" she shouted, standing up. "You Fraggles are really starting to bug me!"

"Yeah, well, get used to it!" Red shouted. "We haven't yet begun to fight!"

"Don't you start that, too, Red," Boober moaned.

Red charged forward, but Narcissa calmly pressed the blue stone on the amulet, and the pigtailed Fraggle found herself swept up into a funnel cloud.

"Hey!" Red shouted. "Whoooaaa! Somebody get me out of here!"

"Hang on, Red!" Gobo shouted. "I'll save you!"

Gobo ran to the funnel, and tried to grab Red's hand to pull her out, only he managed to get sucked into the funnel himself.

"Gobo, do me a favor," Red said. "Don't _ever_ try to save me again! You're not good at it!"

"Sorry," Gobo said, sheepishly.

"You can't do that to my friends!" Lou shouted, giving Narcissa a good kick in the shin, as hard as she possibly could.

"Aaahhh!" Narcissa shouted, letting go of Lou, and hunching over in pain.

"I'll try to get the amulet," Lou said to Mokey and Boober. "You two free Wembley!"

"Right!" Mokey shouted.

"As long as I don't have to fight, I'm all for that," Boober said, and he and Mokey ran toward Wembley.

"Hang on, Wembley," Mokey said. "We'll get you loose. Once we figure out how."

Boober pulled on one of the vines as hard as he could, hoping he'd be able to tear it off, but the vine refused to break. When he let go of it, the vine snapped back against the stalagmite. But that didn't stop them from trying again.

While Narcissa was bent over, rubbing her leg with her hands, and looking for a potential bruise, Lou snuck up behind her, and tried to undo the amulet's clasp, but before she could touch it, Narcissa grabbed her by the wrist again, and flipped her over, throwing her to the floor as hard as she could.

"Ooooh!" Lou groaned. That landing knocked the wind out of her.

"Nice try, Louise," Narcissa said, standing up. Then she looked over at Boober and Mokey, and pressed the green stone on the amulet. Two vines appeared out of the stalagmite and began striking at Mokey and Boober like whips, causing them to back away as fast as they could. Unfortunately, the two Fraggles wound up backing directly into the funnel cloud with Red and Gobo.

"Oooohhhhhh nooooooo!" Boober moaned.

"Glad to have you guys aboard," Red said, sarcastically.

"How do you stop this thing?!" Mokey shouted.

"If we knew that, we wouldn't still be in here!" Gobo shouted.

"Now that we've gotten the peanut gallery out of the way," Narcissa said, "I can focus my attention on you, Louise! I should have gotten rid of you the first chance I could!"

Narcissa pressed the purple stone, and a lightning bolt shot out. Lou dodged out of the way immediately. Narcissa wasn't about to give up, though. She continued zapping at Lou with the lightning bolts, and Lou continued ducking and dodging. It wasn't easy, but it was about the only thing she could do. Wembley grunted, groaned, and struggled as hard as he could. He had to get loose so he could help Lou. Finally, he managed to sever a vine wrapped around his wrist, by rubbing it against the stalagmite. He was able to pull his arm out of the vine wrapped around his chest, and untie the one around his muzzle. Then he pulled on the vine around his chest, held it up to his mouth, and bit down on it as hard as he could. That did the trick. The vines retracted, freeing the little green Fraggle from their grip, and not a moment too soon. Narcissa had Lou backed into a corner with no way to escape.

"Now I've got you, my pretty little Fraggle," she said, evilly. "Once I get rid of you, I'll get rid of your friends, and then there will be no stopping me from ruling the universe!"

Narcissa let out a mad cackle, and was about to push the purple stone, when Wembley jumped onto her shoulders.

"Oh no you don't!" he shouted, and he leaned over to grab the amulet. The minute he touched it, his hand got a shock, and he had to let go.

"You little pest!" Narcissa shouted. She reached for Wembley, but the green Fraggle jumped off her shoulders, and landed on the ground. Then he jumped up, and grabbed the amulet again. This time, no matter how much the shock hurt, he didn't let go, and he tried to yank it off Narcissa's neck.

"Wembley!" Lou shouted. "Wembley, stop! Let go of it!"

"Not until I get it off Narcissa's neck!" Wembley shouted.

Narcissa growled, and tried to grab Wembley, but the minute she touched him, she received a bit of a shock, as well. She immediately let go, but Wembley didn't.

"Let go of my amulet, you little rat!" she demanded.

"No!" Wembley shouted, continuing to yank. "It's not your amulet! It's Lou's!"

Narcissa growled, and tried once more. Despite the shock going through her system, she also refused to let go. During the struggle, she accidentally hit the blue stone, causing the funnel cloud to disappear. Gobo, Red, Mokey, and Boober crashed to the floor, dazed, disoriented, and extremely dizzy.

"Anybody get the number of that radish cart?" Boober asked.

"You know," Red said, "that was kinda fun."

"You've got a sick definition of fun, Red," Gobo sighed.

"You guys, we have to do something!" Lou shouted. "Wembley's trying to get the amulet back, and he won't let go of it!"

"Is he out of his gourd?!" Boober shouted. "That thing's dangerous! He'll get electrocuted!"

"Wembley, let go of that thing!" Gobo shouted. "What are you trying to do, get yourself killed?!"

"I can't, Gobo!" Wembley yelled. "I'm not gonna let go until I get it off!"

Narcissa gnashed her teeth and growled. She reached for the blue stone again, and pushed it. A gust of wind blew out of amulet, forcing Wembley to let go. The wind flung him into a nearby wall and hard. Wembley was left seeing stars as he slid down the wall and onto the floor.

"Wembley!" Gobo shouted.

The five Fraggles immediately tried to run over to their friend to see if he was all right, but Narcissa blocked them off with a few blasts of lightning in their path.

"You _wretched_ little _beast_!" Narcissa shouted, punching Wembley in the face as hard as she could, blackening his eye. "This is all _your_ doing! If it hadn't been for you, I would have been ruler of the universe by now instead of wasting my time with you and your friends! I'm going to finish you once and for all!"

"Wembley, look out!" Gobo shouted.

Wembley was too dazed to move. He looked up at Narcissa, and tried to get up, but he wasn't fast enough. Narcissa pushed the purple stone on the amulet, and the biggest, brightest bolt of lightning the Fraggles had ever seen shot out of it, and struck Wembley right in the stomach. Wembley let out an ear-shattering shriek. Narcissa cackled as she kept the amulet and the lightning coming out of it focused on him. Lou couldn't stand it much longer. She looked around for a makeshift weapon, and found a couple of rocks laying there. She picked one up, and threw it as hard as she could. It beaned Narcissa right in the head. She began staggering backwards, which took the focus lightning off Wembley, and hit part of the spire instead. The rocks from the spire fell directly on Narcissa, knocking her out for the time being. Wembley collapsed in a lifeless heap. The other Fraggles ran over to him immediately.

"Wembley?" Gobo asked. "Hey, buddy, you okay?"

"Do you think he's . . . ." Boober started, but he just couldn't bring himself to finish his question.

"He can't be!" Lou shouted. "He just _can't_ be! Wembley, please, wake up! Come on, wake up!"

Lou grabbed both of Wembley's shoulders, and shook them, but Wembley didn't respond. Lou stared at him for a moment in silence. She lowered him to the ground gently, and began shaking her head in disbelief.

"No," she said. "No, no, no, no!"

Lou burst into tears, threw herself on Wembley's chest, and sobbed. The other Fraggles stood back, not knowing what to say, or do. Boober sniffled, and used his scarf as a handkerchief. Mokey put her hands on Boober's shoulders to comfort him, but tears were starting to form in her eyes as well. Red let out a small whimper, and began to cry herself. Gobo hugged her, and let her cry into his shoulder, as he tried to fight back his own tears, without much success. Lou leaned up, sniffled, and wiped the tears from her eyes. She gently raised Wembley's torso, held him close, and began singing.

 _If I could make a wish_

 _And have that wish come true_

 _I'd take us back to yesterday_

 _When you were good as new_

 _Until we meet again_

 _You're still my closest friend_

 _And I'll be blue for you_

 _When I say I'm sorry_

 _It's coming from my heart_

 _I mean it, I really truly do_

 _Oh, I'll be blue for you_

 _I remember taking walks_

 _You'd always hold my hand_

 _I didn't have to talk to much_

 _And you'd still understand_

 _We have memories_

 _And I'll take special care of these_

 _I'll be blue for you_

 _I'll be blue for you_

Once Lou was finished singing, she began crying all over again. She just couldn't seem to help herself. Unknown to her and the other Fraggles, Narcissa was pulling herself out of the pile of rocks she had been buried under. She stood up, growled, and practically glaring daggers at the lavender Fraggle.

"You've been lucky up until now, Louise Fraggle," she said. "This time, you won't escape!"

* * *

 _AUTHOR'S NOTE: the song in this chapter is from the "Muppet Babies" episode "Faster Than a Speeding Weirdo."_


	14. The Final Battle

Narcissa held up the amulet, and took careful aim. Lou was too upset about Wembley to even notice the evil sorceress was about to put her out of her misery.

"Oh, don't cry, my dear," Narcissa said. "You'll be with your little boyfriend again very soon!"

Narcissa cackled, and was just about to push the purple stone on the amulet, when the pink stone began glowing, and it's musical note played. She didn't notice it at first, but then she felt a searing pain in her hands. She let out a scream and let go of the amulet, only to feel the pain in her neck this time. Her screaming finally drew the attention of the Fraggles, and they looked over. Narcissa was clawing at her neck, trying to get the amulet off.

"What in the Rock?" Mokey asked.

Finally, the amulet seemed to rip itself off of Narcissa's neck, and floated over to the Fraggles, and placed itself around Lou's. Lou took a deep breath, and pressed the pink stone. A pink beam of light shot out of it, surrounding Wembley, and nearly blinding everybody else. When the light died down, Wembley's injuries were gone. He grunted, and slowly opened his eyes.

"Wembley?" Lou asked.

"Hi," Wembley said.

"Wembley, you're okay!" Gobo shouted.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Wembley said.

Lou suddenly grabbed the green Fraggle, and gave him the biggest hug she could muster.

"You're alive!" she shouted, as tears fell down her cheeks. "Oh Wembley, I'm so happy you're all right!"

"So are we," Gobo said. "You really had us scared for a minute there, fella."

"Really?" Wembley asked. "Gee, Gobo, I'm sorry."

"But how did it happen?" Boober asked. "And what happened with Narcissa?"

"I think I know," Mokey said. "Lou must have unlocked the pink stone. It must be for healing."

"No," Lou said. "It's not healing. If it were, then Narcissa wouldn't have been affected by it. It's far more powerful than that. It's something evil could never understand. And, since evil can't understand it, Narcissa would never have been able to unlock the pink stone, and the amulet would be useless to her."

"What is it?" Red asked.

Lou looked at the amulet, and then looked over at Wembley, and smiled.

"Love," she said, simply.

"Love?!" Narcissa shouted, as she stood up. "You have _got_ to be kidding! How can love be as powerful as that?! It's nothing! It's a weakness!"

"You're wrong, Narcissa!" Lou shouted, standing up, and turning towards the evil sorceress. "I knew you wouldn't be able to understand love! Love is the most powerful weapon there is!"

"Oh give me a break! If you think love is powerful, then you are obviously out of your mind! You're weak, Fraggle! You gave up so easily when I threatened your little green boyfriend, just because you didn't want me to hurt him! If you were smart, you wouldn't have let me have the amulet!"

"If _you_ were smart, you'd know that love is _not_ a weakness! You'd understand why I gave it to you! But it doesn't matter, anyway, because I have the amulet now, and you'll never be able to use it for your own selfish ways, now that the pink stone is unlocked!"

"I may not be able to use the amulet to achieve universal domination, but I still have my own magic, and I can use that to destroy you and your little friends, starting with your little green boyfriend!"

Narcissa snapped her fingers, and several vines creeped out from the cracks in the floor, wrapping themselves around Wembley's wrists and ankles, binding him to the spot. No matter how he struggled, he couldn't break loose. Gobo and Red ran to him, and tried to untie him, but the minute they touched the vines, they received an electric shock.

"Ouch!" Red shouted.

"Hey, what in the Rock is this?!" Gobo shouted.

"You won't be helping your little friend this time," Narcissa said, smiling sneakily. "And once I'm through with the little one, the rest of you are going to be breakfast for my bananacudas!"

Narcissa cackled, and pointed her finger at Wembley. A beam of magic shot out toward him. Immediately, Lou pressed the pink stone on the amulet. A pink beam of light shot out of the amulet's center, and hit Narcissa's beam, changing it's course. The magic beam began to ricochet off the walls, until it returned to Narcissa, zapping her. She let out a shriek when the magic hit her, but came out of it, only slightly scorched. Lou then pressed the red stone, the flame that came from the center of the amulet severed the vines holding Wembley.

"If you think you can defeat me that easily, you've got another think coming, you little hairball!" Narcissa shouted.

The sorceress cracked her knuckles, held her hands in front of her, and a blast of magic came out of her fingers. Lou pressed the yellow and pink stones at the same time, and the colored beams blasted out of the center of the amulet, crashing into Narcissa's, sending them back at her. The yellow beam hit her right in the eyes, and the pink beam hit her in the chest, sending her flying backwards. She let out a scream, and crashed directly into the wall. She was about to get up and give Lou a huge blast of her magic, when the light from the pink stone suddenly surrounded the lavender Fraggle. When it cleared, Lou's appearance changed, slightly. Instead of her pigtails, her hair was up in a small bun at the top of her head. Instead of her orange smock, she wore a long, dark pink dress with a darker pink sash at the waist and short, puffed sleeves, long, light pink gloves, and a diamond tiara with a dark pink jewel in the center of it.

"Wow!" Wembley shouted. "Lou, you look so pretty! Just like a princess!"

Gobo, Red, Boober, and Mokey looked at each other just then, when they realized exactly what Wembley had just said. They remembered what the Storyteller had told them, that once the amulet's powers had been unlocked, the princess would return. They looked at Lou, wide-eyed, and slightly slack-jawed.

"It . . . it _can't_ be!" Gobo shouted. "It just _can't_ be!"

"It's impossible!" Red shouted.

"Impossible or not, I think it's true," Mokey said.

"But how is it even possible?" Boober asked. "Lou just _can't_ be the princess! She's already the Chosen One!"

"It's simple, really," Narcissa said. "Especially since the original princess was a Fraggle."

"Really?" Wembley asked. "Was she _really_ a Fraggle?"

"Indeed she was," Narcissa said. "I'm sure you know the story about the Rainbow Amulet by now, how it was hidden away from an evil sorceress for thousands of years? That evil sorceress happened to be my ancestor, and the princess who hid the amulet was a Fraggle."

"And obviously, Lou's ancestor," Mokey said. "But why didn't the Storyteller, or even Cantus, tell us that?"

"Maybe they didn't know," Gobo said, shrugging. "All the Storyteller said was that after the princess hid the amulet, she disappeared."

"Correct," Narcissa said. "I know the entire story, Fraggles. After my ancestor attacked the castle, the Fraggle princess took the Rainbow Amulet, and fled. When she found others of her own kind, she decided to give up her title and land. She then hid the amulet so my ancestor wouldn't find it, and lived among the Fraggles happily, without them ever knowing her true identity. She may have told her story to the other Fraggles, but obviously, she left out some details. My guess is she did this to protect her descendants."

"Wow," Boober said.

"Yeah," Red said. "We had royalty in Fraggle Rock, and we never even knew it!"

"I also know one more thing," Narcissa said, with an evil smirk. "Louise is the _last_ of the royal Fraggle family, and once I destroy her, the amulet will be mine once again!"

Narcissa cackled evilly, and shot a blast of magic out of her fingers, directly at Lou. Nothing was going to stop her from obtaining the amulet. Lou ducked, and Narcissa's magic hit the adjacent wall, blasting a hole in it. Immediately, Lou dashed to the edge of the tower, aimed the amulet at the moat, and pressed the indigo stone. A giant wave came shooting upward, and knocked Narcissa off her feet. The soaked sorceress stood up, sputtering, and began wringing out her dress.

"You think that's funny?" she asked. "See if you laugh at _this_!"

Narcissa thrust her hand forward and another beam of magic shot out of it. Lou ducked once more, and pressed the orange stone, aiming at the ground at Narcissa's feet. The ground shook, and Narcissa was knocked off her feet again. She retaliated with another blast of magic. Lou pressed the red stone, and blocked it off with a giant flame. Narcissa growled, and increased her powers. Her magic managed to push the flame back into the amulet. Once Narcissa's magic hit the amulet, Lou was thrown into the wall, and hard.

"Oooh!" she shouted, collapsing to the floor, breathlessly.

"Well, now," Narcissa said, with an evil smirk. "How the mighty have fallen. Say goodbye to your little princess, Fraggles, because this is the last you'll see of her!"

"No!" Wembley shouted, and he rushed forward.

"Wembley, don't!" Boober shouted. "You'll get killed!"

Wembley wouldn't listen. He ran to Lou, and stood in front of her, just as Narcissa threw a blast of magic.

"I can't look!" Red shouted, leaning against Gobo's shoulder.

Just as Narcissa's blast was about to hit Wembley, Lou pressed the pink stone, and the magic beam suddenly crashed into an invisible barrier, and dissolved into sparkling dust. The pink stone on the amulet was glowing brightly. Narcissa just stood there with her mouth hanging open, unable to believe that just happened. While she was distracted, Wembley walked over to Lou, and helped her up.

"Wembley, you could have been killed doing that!" Lou shouted. "Especially if I hadn't been able to create that forcefield with the pink stone! What made you do something crazy like that?!"

"I couldn't let you get killed, Lou," Wembley said. "You mean a lot to me, and I'd hate to see anything happen to you."

"Isn't that sweet?" Narcissa said, in a condescending tone. "I admire your little boyfriend's loyalty, Louise. Or rather, his blatant stupidity!"

"Call it stupidity if you want, Narcissa!" Wembley shouted. "I may not be able to make up my mind easily, but one thing is for sure, when it comes to deciding whether or not to help my friends, I'll always choose to help them no matter what!"

Narcissa scoffed, and blasted a piece of magic out at Wembley and Lou. The two Fraggles ducked it before it could hit them.

"Time to end this!" Lou shouted.

"Right!" Wembley shouted.

Lou held up the amulet, and pushed the stones on them, one at a time, in quick succession. The center of the amulet opened, and a bright light came out of it, changing colors as it blasted itself at Narcissa. Wembley moved closer next to Lou, and put one hand against hers, and the other around her shoulders. Narcissa growled, and threw her hand forward, blocking the rainbow light with her own magic.

"Come on, you guys!" Red shouted. "We can't stand here and do nothing! We've got to help them!"

"But how?" Boober asked. "We don't have any special powers!"

"Oh yes we do!" Red shouted. "You heard what Lou said! Love is the most powerful weapon there is! And love includes friends!"

Before Gobo, Boober, and Mokey could say another word, Red ran over to Wembley and Lou. She stood on the other side of Lou, and put her hand against the lavender Fraggle's. She also stretched her arm across Lou's shoulders, and put her other hand on Wembley's hand. Both Lou and Wembley looked over at the pigtailed Fraggle, and smiled. The rainbow light began to glow brighter, and push Narcissa's back.

"Oh no you don't!" Narcissa shouted, increasing her magic again.

Immediately, Mokey ran to the trio. She stood behind Red, and put one hand on Red's shoulder, and wound her arm around Lou's shoulders, resting her hand on top of Red's and Wembley's hands. This seemed to strengthen the rainbow beam. Gobo ran over to his friends as well, standing behind Wembley, with one hand on his best friend's shoulder, and the other on Mokey's hand.

"I refuse to be beaten by overgrown furballs!" Narcissa shouted, and she increased her magic as hard as she could. "I don't care if it takes the last of my powers to destroy you Fraggles, I _will_ destroy you if it's the last thing I ever do!"

Narcissa let loose with everything she had, and her beam of magic began to overpower the rainbow beam. Lou was having a hard time keeping it focused. Narcissa's magic was so strong now. She didn't know if she could last.

"I . . . . I don't know if I can hold out . . . . much longer!" she shouted, straining.

"Don't give up now, Lou!" Wembley shouted. "You can make it, just keep trying!"

Lou squeezed her eyes shut, and concentrated as hard as she could, but it was difficult. Narcissa cackled madly, sure she had the upper hand. Boober watched everything unfold, not wanting to get into this at all. Once he saw Narcissa's magic beam getting closer and closer to wiping out the rainbow beam, and Lou about ready to drop, he stood up, and ran over to his friends.

"Hold on!" he called. "I'm coming!"

Boober stood behind Lou, and put his hands on Gobo's and Mokey's arms, bracing himself against them.

"I don't care if this gets me killed or not!" he shouted. "I just can't stand by and let this witch win! Now come on, Lou, and give her what she deserves!"

"Yeah, Lou!" Gobo shouted. "Don't give up now!"

"We all believe in you, Lou!" Mokey shouted.

"We're with ya all the way!" Red shouted.

"You can do it, Lou, I know you can do it!" Wembley shouted.

Lou took a deep breath. She felt her friends around her, and heard their encouraging words. She managed to get her fingers on the colored stones, and pressed them all at the same time. The rainbow beam burst out of the amulet's center with such force, not only was Narcissa's beam destroyed, but the evil sorceress was knocked off her feet completely. Before she had a chance to recover, she was hit by the rainbow beam.

"No!" she shouted. "This wasn't supposed to happen! I was supposed to win! You'll pay for this, Louise Fraggle! You'll pay for thiiiiiiiis!"

The rainbow beam surrounded Narcissa completely. She let out an ear-splitting scream, and she exploded.

 _KABOOOOOM!_

After the explosion, the rainbow beam shot into the air, and arched into a regular rainbow, sweeping across the land, turning everything that was once dark, dank, and dreary bright and colorful. When it was done, the music from the amulet faded out, and the stones' light died down.

"You did it, Lou!" Gobo shouted. "You defeated the evil sorceress!"

"I knew you could do it!" Wembley shouted.

"Yay, Lou!" Red cheered.

Lou didn't say anything. She just stared at the amulet in her hands. Then she let go of it, and fainted, falling over backwards, right into Wembley's arms.

"Lou!" Wembley shouted. "Oh my gosh, she fainted!"

"We'd better get her inside," Gobo said.

Immediately, Wembley and Gobo positioned Lou's arms over their shoulders, while Red and Mokey picked up her legs. Boober ran ahead and opened the door that led inside the castle, and led the others down the stairs.

"I hope she's okay," Wembley said.

"Don't worry, Wembley," Mokey said. "Lou will be just fine. I hope."


	15. Decisions, Decisions

Lou moaned, as she started to wake up. She was exhausted, and her head was killing her. When her eyes focused, she found herself laying in a bed. After she had fainted, the other Fraggles carried her into the castle, and managed to find a bedroom. She had been out for quite some time. When her eyes focused, she found Wembley sitting next to her, holding her hand.

"Oh, good," Wembley said. "You're finally awake. Hey guys! Lou's awake!"

Immediately, Gobo, Boober, Red, and Mokey gathered around, talking at once.

"Lo and behold, the princess doth awakens!" Gobo shouted, bowing. "I humbly bow to thee, Princess Lou! Prithee, your most royal Fraggle-ness, how doth thy feel after such a battle from the previous evening?"

"Cut it out, Gobo," Red said, smacking Gobo in the arm.

"Sorry," Gobo said. "I was just teasing, Lou."

"But in all seriousness, how _are_ you feeling, Lou?" Mokey asked.

"Tired," Lou said, stifling a yawn. "And a little dizzy."

"Yeah, I'll bet," Wembley said. "You just took out an evil sorceress, turned this dark and scary place into a bright and colorful place, and saved the entire universe! No wonder you're exhausted!"

"Yeah, I'm tired just _thinking_ about it!" Boober shouted.

"But it's all over now," Mokey said. "You just lie there, and rest, Lou."

"Yeah, you've earned it," Red said.

Lou nodded. It was about all she could do. She felt completely drained, and the only thing on her mind right now was sleep. The Fraggle Five quietly left the bedroom in order to let Lou rest. They went into the throne room, and sat around.

"You know, I just had a thought," Gobo said. "What are we going to do now?"

"What do you mean what are we going to do now?" Boober asked. "Once Lou gets some rest, we're going back to Fraggle Rock, of course!"

"The five of us can go back to Fraggle Rock, sure," Gobo said. "But what about Lou? You think she's gonna come back with us? After all, she's the princess of this land now. She's the ruler."

"Wouldn't that make her a queen?" Wembley asked.

"Not unless this is a principality instead of a kingdom," Mokey said. "After all, her ancestor called herself a princess."

"So what?" Red asked. "Nobody says she _has_ to stay here and rule the place."

"Yeah, but she might feel that she has a responsibility to," Gobo said.

"You're not gonna try to convince her to stay here, are you Gobo?" Wembley asked, nervously.

"No, Wembley, of course not!" Gobo shouted.

"Good," Wembley said. "Because I don't want her to stay here! I want her to come back to Fraggle Rock with us!"

"It's not for us to say, Wembley," Mokey said.

"But Lou _can't_ stay here!" Wembley shouted. "This isn't her home! She belongs in Fraggle Rock!"

"Wembley, she hasn't made a decision on that yet," Red said. "We've got to let her decide on her own, okay?"

"Okay," Wembley said.

A few hours later, Lou finally got up, finally feeling rested. She climbed on top of a dresser that was in the room and looked at herself in the mirror. She was still wearing the princess attire, though the tiara was a bit lopsided, her gloves were drooping, and her hair was a bit mussed. She quickly straightened herself out, climbed off the dresser, and went to look for the others. When she opened the door to the throne room, a red carpet rolled out, and a fanfare trumpeted. Gobo walked out, carrying a trumpet, and wearing a blue shirt under a gold tunic, and a flat cap with a large white feather in it. He put the trumpet to his lips, and sounded the fanfare again.

"Announcing!" he shouted in a corny, mock-English accent. "Her most royal highness! Princess Lou Fraggle!"

"Gobo, what are you doing?" Lou asked.

"I'm the Royal Gobo," Gobo said, dropping the accent. "It's normally called a herald, but Harold couldn't make it, so they sent me instead."

( _insert rimshot here_ )

Gobo began laughing at his (awful) joke. Lou made a face, groaned, shook her head, and walked into the throne room. Inside, she found Wembley, Boober, Mokey, and Red, all decked out in medieval garb, standing on either side of the red carpet, and bowing as Lou passed them. Mokey handed her a jeweled scepter, and Red fastened a fur-trimmed, dark purple cape around her shoulders. Lou climbed into the throne, and sighed.

"Okay, you guys, cut it out," she said.

"Asith thou wishith, your highnessith," Wembley said. "We-ith art thou humblith servantiths."

"Very funny," Lou said, rolling her eyes. "Come on, you guys."

"Sorry, we couldn't resist," Red said.

"Yeah, okay, I get it," Lou said. "Just knock it off before I knock some noggins with this scepter. Anybody seen my smock? I want to get out of this outfit."

"I kinda like that outfit, Lou," Wembley said. "I think you look really pretty in it."

"Thanks, Wembley," Lou said. "But it's kinda hard to go rock rolling and play rock hockey in a fancy dress like this."

"Does that mean you're going back to Fraggle Rock with us?" Mokey asked. "Or are you going to stay here and perform your princessly duties?"

"I was hoping to put this off," Lou said, with a sigh.

"You've got to come back with us, Lou!" Wembley shouted. "Fraggle Rock won't be the same without you!"

"I know," Lou said, "but I feel like I also have an obligation to this kingdom, or realm, or whatever you want to call it."

"So, what's it going to be, then?" Red asked. "Fraggle Rock, or here?"

Lou heaved a sigh. She climbed out of the throne, and walked over to the window, staring out of it, for what seemed like an eternity.

"I hate to do it," she said. "But I have to stay here."

"We understand," Gobo said. "We're gonna miss you, though."

"Yeah," Wembley said. "A lot."

"I know," Lou said, giving Wembley a hug. "And I'll miss you guys, too. I don't expect you guys to hang around here, I really don't."

"I guess we should get out of these costumes and go, then," Mokey said.

"Then this really is goodbye?" Wembley asked.

"Yeah," Gobo said, patting the little green Fraggle's shoulder. "I guess it is."

Lou nodded, and the Fraggle Five left the room in order to change back into their regular clothes. Wembley was about to go with them, when he ran back to Lou, and hugged her.

"I don't want to say goodbye, Lou!" he shouted.

"Oh, Wembley," Lou said, and then she began to sing.

 _Lou: Saying goodbye, going away_

 _Seems like goodbye's such a hard thing to say_

 _Wembley: Touching a hand, wondering why_

 _Both: It's time for saying goodbye_

Wembley finally pulled away from Lou, and left the throne room to join the others in order to change clothes, pack up, and leave. Gobo, Mokey, Boober, and Red weren't too happy about the turn of events themselves. Once they were ready, they went to the throne room to say their final goodbyes to Lou.

 _Red: Saying goodbye, why is it sad?_

 _Makes us remember the good times we've had_

 _Much more to say, foolish to try_

 _It's time for saying goodbye_

 _Boober: Don't want to leave, but we all know_

 _Sometimes it's better to go_

 _Mokey: Somehow I know we'll meet again_

 _Not sure quite where, and I don't know just when_

 _Gobo: You're in our hearts, so until then_

 _It's time for saying goodbye_

 _Lou: Somehow I know we'll meet again_

 _Not sure quite where, and I don't know just when_

 _You're in my heart, so until then_

 _Red: Wanna smile_

 _Boober: Wanna cry_

 _Lou: Saying goodbye_

 _All: La la la la la la la la_

 _It's time for saying goodbye_

 _La la la la la la la la_

 _La la la la la la la_

The Fraggle Five turned, and started to walk down the hall and out of the castle. Suddenly, Wembley stopped, and raced back into the throne room as fast as he could. He practically flung himself into Lou's arms, and let out a sob.

"You can't stay here, Lou!" he shouted. "You just can't! I can't say goodbye! Not now! Please come back with us, Lou! Please!"

"Wembley, come on!" Gobo shouted. "She's made up her mind to stay here. There's nothing we can do about it!"

"But I don't want to leave Lou!" Wembley shouted, almost whining.

"You could always stay here, you know," Boober pointed out. "You don't have to come back to Fraggle Rock with us. If you want to stay with Lou that badly, then just stay here."

"No!" Wembley shouted. "No, I can't stay here and leave you and Gobo and Red and Mokey! I'll miss you guys too much if I stay here! But . . . . but if I go back to Fraggle Rock, I'll miss you too much, Lou!"

"It's your choice, Wembley," Gobo said. "You can stay here with Lou if you want to, or you can come back to Fraggle Rock with Red, Mokey, Boober, and me."

Wembley thought this over. He didn't know what he wanted to do. If he stayed with Lou, he'd never see Fraggle Rock or his friends again. If he went back to Fraggle Rock, he'd never see Lou again. After weighing each choice, he finally let out a scream.

"It's not fair!" he shouted, stamping his foot. "Why can't things be like they were before? I wish I never found that dumb old amulet to begin with!"

"It wouldn't have mattered, Wembley," Mokey said, putting her hands on Wembley's shoulders. "Cantus said Lou would have gotten it eventually, even if you _hadn't_ found it."

"It's still not fair!" Wembley shouted. "Why won't you come back to Fraggle Rock, Lou?! Why?!"

"Wembley, please try to understand," Lou said. "I don't want to leave this place with nobody to protect it, or take care of it. And I can't leave those goblins in the dungeon with no one to take care of them, either. Despite the trouble they caused us, I just can't let them to starve to death."

"The goblins!" Red shouted. "I forgot all about them! Hey! I just got an idea!"

"What's that, Red?" Gobo asked.

Before Red could answer, she ran off. Gobo, Boober, Mokey, and Lou looked at each other and shrugged. Then they began to focus on consoling Wembley, and that was going to be easier said than done. By the time Red returned, Wembley had calmed down a bit, but he was still not a very happy Fraggle.

"Okay, Lou," Red said. "Get up on the throne and try to look regal. I'm sending in the clowns."

"Huh?" Gobo asked. "Red, what in the name of the Rock are you up to?"

"Just watch," Red said. She opened the door to the throne room, and motioned for the goblins to come in.

"Okay, fellas," she said. "March! Hup, two, three, four! Hup, two, three, four!"

The goblins marched into the room, grumbling. They couldn't believe they were taking orders from a Fraggle. The leader stopped immediately when he saw Lou sitting in the throne, in her royal regalia. The other goblins crashed into their leader, and they all fell to the ground.

"What'd you stop like that for?" one asked.

"Look!" the leader shouted. "It's . . . . it's the Chosen One! She's . . . . she's the true princess of the land!"

"Eeep!" another goblin squeaked.

Immediately, the goblins jumped to attention, and got down on one knee, bowing as low as they could possibly get.

"Oh please forgive us, princess!" the leader shouted. "Forgive us for what we put you and your friends through! We were only taking orders from Narcissa! My troops and I are specifically trained to take orders from the person in charge!"

"Well . . . ." Lou said, not sure what to do next. "Uhhhh . . . ."

"You can't forgive them!" Boober shouted. "Don't you remember what they did?! They kidnapped Wembley, and nearly beat him to death, and they had fun doing it, too!"

"Yeah, he _did_ make a great punching bag, didn't he?" one of the goblins said, with a laugh. His leader bopped him on the head as hard as he could.

"We're already in deep!" he shouted. "Don't dig us any deeper!"

"I say you forgive them," Red said.

"Red, are you crazy?!" Boober shouted. "After what they did to Wembley?!"

"Oh, Boober," Mokey said. "They seem to be genuinely sorry."

"Only because Lou's the boss now," Boober said. "I say lock them in the dungeon and let 'em rot! That way, they won't hurt anyone again!"

"But that doesn't go with my idea," Red said.

"What _is_ your idea, Red?" Lou asked. Red walked up to Lou, and whispered something to her. Lou nodded, and cleared her throat. The goblins immediately stood at attention.

"You're forgiven," Lou said. "But on one condition. In order to redeem yourselves, you must stay here, and become caretakers of the castle, and protect it from all evil."

"Oh, sure," the leader of the goblins said. "We can do that."

"Good," Lou said. "Now to make it official. I, Princess Louise of . . . . of . . . . uhhh, say, what _is_ this place called, anyway?"

"It doesn't have a name, actually," the goblin leader said, shrugging. "Narcissa was going to name it after herself. The Land of Narcissa."

"Ugh," Gobo said, grimacing. "She really _was_ full of herself, wasn't she?"

" _Tell_ me about it!" the goblin leader shouted. "As ruler, you get to decide the name of the land, princess."

"Okay, then," Lou said. "I hereby christen this land . . . . Fraggledonia!"

"Fraggledonia," Mokey repeated. "Hmm. I like it."

"Yeah, me too!" Wembley shouted. The others agreed on it.

"Okay," Lou said. "I, Princess Louise of Fraggledonia, hearby name you goblins the protectors and caretakers of the castle of Fraggledonia. You will keep the castle clean, and protect it, and the land of Fraggledonia, from evil."

"Oh thank you for your forgiveness, princess!" the goblin leader shouted. "And we promise, we'll be good caretakers and protectors!"

"Good," Lou said. "Because I'm going home to Fraggle Rock with my friends."

"You mean, you're abdicating?" one of the goblins asked.

"Well, sort of," Lou said, shrugging. "I don't really want to stay here and rule the place, but I don't want anything to happen to the place, either, which is why you guys are taking care of it."

"That was my idea," Red said.

"Then will you be leaving the Rainbow Amulet with us?" the leader of the goblins asked.

"No, I'm taking it with me," Lou said. "Just in case I decide to return."

"Truthfully, I wouldn't trust them with it," Boober muttered under his breath.

"Very well, your highness," the goblin leader said. Then he turned to some of the other goblins. "Prepare the boat for the princess and her friends!"

"Yes sir!" a group of goblins shouted, and they left the palace in order to get their boat ready for the Fraggles.

Lou quickly changed out of the princess outfit and back into her regular clothes, and pigtails. She was putting the Rainbow Amulet back around her neck when Wembley came in.

"You're not gonna take your princess stuff with you?" he asked.

"Nah," Lou said. "Who needs a long, fancy dress in Fraggle Rock, anyway?"

"I guess so. Anyway, I still think you were real pretty dressed as a princess. Not that you're not pretty in your smock. I mean, you were always pretty, just maybe prettier in the dress. Wait, I didn't mean it like that. I mean . . . ."

"I know what you meant, Wembley. And thanks."

Lou leaned over, and kissed Wembley's cheek.

"Aww, gee . . . ." Wembley said, blushing.

"Come on, you guys," Red said. "Break it up! We've got to get going!"

"Right," Wembley said, and he left the room. Lou was about to follow him, when she stopped for a minute. She turned back, took off her backpack, and packed her princess dress, gloves, and tiara into her backpack. Then she went to catch up with the others.

* * *

 _AUTHOR'S NOTE: The song in this chapter is from the movie "The Muppets Take Manhattan."_


	16. Home Again

The goblin leader escorted the Fraggles to their boat, and they boarded. One of the goblins was going to be doing the steering.

"Hopefully this trip will be better than the last one I had on this boat," Wembley said. "They got me up close and personal with a bananacuda on the way here."

"Speaking of which," Lou said, turning to the goblins, "I don't care how you do it, but get those bananacudas out of the moat. I won't be needing them."

"Would you like us to replace them with sharks or alligators, princess?" the goblin leader asked.

"Neither, thank you," Lou said. "Why does a moat has to have alligators or sharks in it?"

"To keep away enemies," the goblin said.

"That's what you guys are for," Red pointed out.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot," the goblin said.

"Hey, what about the bananacudas that live in this river?" Boober asked.

"I'll take care of them if they give us trouble, Boober," Lou said, holding up the Rainbow Amulet. "Don't worry about it."

"I can't help it," Boober said. "I always worry about everything."

"You can say that again!" Red shouted.

"Come on, you guys," Gobo said, trying to restore order. "Cut it out!"

"You're no longer in authority to tell us what to do Gobo," Red said, almost gleefully.

"What do you mean?" Gobo asked.

"You're not leader anymore!" Red shouted. "Lou outranks you!"

"Red," Lou said, giving the pigtailed Fraggle a warning look.

"Sorry, I just had to say it," Red said, shrugging. "Besides, it's true, isn't it?"

"I know," Lou said. "But I don't want to flaunt it. I don't want to turn into some uptight, bossy, tyrant that orders everyone around, like the Gorgs. So let's just forget this whole who outranks who bit here, okay? Let's just go back to the way things were before this whole mess even started. So don't tell anyone when we get back."

"Good idea," Gobo said. "Nobody even has to know Lou's a princess."

"Yeah," Red agreed. "You know what'll happen if Marlon finds out. He'll be badgering Lou day and night about it, kissing up to her. You know how much he wants to be King of the Fraggles."

"Yeah, and if I know Marlon, he'll urn into some uptight, bossy, tyrant that orders everyone around!" Gobo shouted.

The other Fraggles had to agree on that. After saying goodbye to the goblins, the Fraggles finally left Fraggledonia for Fraggle Rock. Luckily, they didn't have any trouble with the bananacudas this time around, but it was still a long trip. It was almost sunset by the time they made it to the other side of the river, and they still had a bit of a trek to make it back to Fraggle Rock.

"I'm glad you decided to come back with us, Lou," Boober said. "Visiting you in Fraggledonia would be too much!"

"What makes you say that, Boober?" Gobo asked.

"It's too long, and I get seasick," Boober said.

"Hey, look!" Mokey shouted, pointing to the shore. "There's Cantus!"

The other Fraggles looked, and sure enough, there was Cantus, standing at the shore, holding his pipe. The other Minstrels weren't around.

"I wonder what he's doing here?" Gobo asked.

"One way to find out," Red said, and she rushed down the boat's gangplank. "Hey Cantus! What are you doing here?"

"Waiting," Cantus said. "I see you have returned from your journey."

"Yeah, finally," Boober said. "How long were we on that journey anyway?"

"Three or four days, I think," Gobo said. "I hope you weren't waiting for us for that long, Cantus!"

"No, I was not waiting long at all," Cantus said. He walked over to the gang plank as Lou was disembarking, bowed, and offered her his hand.

"Allow me to assist you, princess," he said.

"Hey, how'd you know that Lou was the princess of Fraggledonia?" Wembley asked.

"I learn many things in my travels," Cantus said, as he helped Lou off the gangplank. "I have been to what is now Fraggledonia many times, which was how I knew the story of the Rainbow Amulet."

"That makes sense," Mokey said. "After all, Narcissa knew who you were when we mentioned you. She called you a pompous, two-bit, fifth-rate, pied piper."

"I have been called worse," Cantus said, shrugging. "Things that I care not to repeat in mixed company."

"Incidentally, Cantus," Gobo said, "why didn't you tell us Lou was the princess when we got started?"

"She wouldn't have believed it," Cantus said. "It was for the best that she discover it for herself. Just like it was best that she discover the power of the pink stone was love for herself as well."

"So you knew we'd be successful all along, didn't you?" Lou asked.

"Perhaps," Cantus said. "Perhaps not. However, I do know that the song of the Rainbow Amulet is now silent, and it is in the hands of it's rightful owner, and all is right with our world once again. Now is the time to return to Fraggle Rock."

With that, Cantus put his pipe to his lips, and began playing it, escorting the six Fraggles back to their home. When the group returned to Fraggle Rock, they found quite a few Fraggles waiting for them, all talking at once.

"They're back!" Rumple shouted.

"About time," Marlon grumbled.

"I'm so glad!" Tosh shouted, giving Boober a big hug. "I was starting to get worried!"

"Thank goodness you're all in one piece!" Morris shouted.

"I take it we can assume the evil sorceress has been defeated," Gillis said.

"Did you get to meet the princess the Storyteller was talking about?" Feenie asked.

" _Now_ can we have Lou's birthday cake?" Large Marvin asked.

The other Fraggles groaned and rolled their eyes. Tosh swatted Large Marvin in the shoulder and glared at him.

"So, tell us what happened," the Storyteller said, pen and paper in hand. "I'm all ready to revise the story!"

"Well, you're never gonna believe this, but Narcissa was the descendant of the sorceress from the original story," Gobo said. "And Lou did defeat her by using the powers of the Rainbow Amulet all at once."

"Well, I had a little help from my friends," Lou said. "I couldn't have done it without all of you."

"What about the princess?" the Storyteller asked. "Was she really revealed when the amulet's powers were unlocked?"

"Oh yeah, she sure was!" Red shouted.

"Was she pretty?" Feenie asked.

"Yeah," Wembley said. "She was the prettiest girl I've ever seen."

"Once the princess was revealed," Lou said, "and Narcissa was defeated, the land changed from dark and dreary to colorful and beautiful, and the princess named it Fraggledonia, in honor of her friends."

"Wow, a whole country named after us!" Feenie shouted.

"What happened then?" the Storyteller asked.

"What else?" Gobo asked, shrugging. "They all lived happily ever after, of course!"

The End


End file.
